Journal of a Superman
by S.P. Bley
Summary: Chapter 9 is up. A mysterious assassin is after a visiting dignitary. Somehow he is able to pass completely by the secret service, and worse yet, his is able to hold his own against Superman. Rated M for mature content and themes.
1. Journey: Part One

**Journal of a Superman**

By S.P. Bley

Previously…

Darkseid: You dare challenge me? Insanity!

Lex Luthor: Oh, I'm not here to challenge you, Darkseid. Quite the contrary. I've got something you want. The _only_ thing you want.

Darkseid: _[astonished_ The Anti-Life Equation!

- Justice League Unlimited: Destroyer

* * *

J'onn: In many ways, Lex Luthor represents the worst of what mankind has to offer.

Superman: But he died saving us all.

Batman: I doubt that either of them died.

Superman: We saw it this time.

Flash: You saw it last time too.

Green Lantern: What's the old saying? Believe half of what you see…

Hawk Girl:…And none of what you hear. They'll be back.

J'onn: And we'll be waiting for them.

- Justice League Unlimited: Destroyer

* * *

Bruce Wayne: Kent called. Says it's not important, just wanted your opinion on something.

- Justice League Unlimited: Epilogue

* * *

Superman: You'll out live us all Bruce; You're too stubborn to die.

- Batman Beyond: The Call: Part One

* * *

Journey: Part One

Terry watched as the clouds broke over Metropolis. What did Clark want that was so important at three in the morning? He pushed the throttle as the car descended. "I am really starting to dislike these flights from Metropolis to Gotham on a nightly basis." He quipped into the comm. link.

"Now you know why I only joined part time." Bruce radioed back from the Bat Cave. His back was to the view from the car. It wasn't like Terry was going to be in danger while going to the Metro Tower. And besides, the boy had proven himself without the old man's aid. "Imagine trying to get there in the first Batmobile." Terry laughed. Then suddenly, his chuckle stopped.

"Bruce, Supes said it was nothing major, right?" He asked in a serious tone.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" The old man asked.

"You better have a look at this," Terry suggested. Bruce got out of his seat and hobbled to the large computer as the second Batman continued, "he isn't there."

"Your, jumping to conclusions," The former Batman said as he flipped on the monitor, "That tower is a big place, Terry, he could..." As the screen came to life, Bruce saw what Terry was seeing.

"The tower isn't there, Bruce." The protégé said as the elder looked in horror at the flaming wreckage of the Metropolis based tower. "I'm not picking up any signs of survivors."

* * *

_One year later…_

_Do you believe in fate? Do you believe that our lives are guided by some outside force, influencing us to do what is right according to the universe?_

The ground sped towards the falling child. The five year old Calvin Lark braced his hands in front of him. He knew it would do little good to stop the fall from the Neo Metropolis apartment tower. A drop of some seventy stories would kill just about anyone. Five years old, and already he was a dead man. The boy closed his eyes as a white and black blur flashed below on the ground. He stopped. The child opened his eyes to see the low streets of the city flying away from behind him. His view was intermittently broken by a flowing white cape, caught in the wind, fluttering around like a great big flag. He looked over at the man, following the black, one piece suit to see a middle aged face with a big smile, graying black hair, and bright blue eyes. A gracefully aged Superman had once again saved the day. The man of tomorrow flew the child mid-way up the towers of the city of tomorrow, to the seventy-third floor balcony. "Is this your child, Ma'am?" He asked, extending the child to a frantic woman, standing next to a dumbstruck man holding a two year old boy. The woman took the toddler as the Man of Steel smiled, "Just be more careful, son. I might not be there to help next time." And with that, he flew off.

_In this world of science, childhood notions of a guardian angle are silly, unfounded fairy tales. A true statement from anyone who has never lived in Metropolis for a month. I lived here all my life, and the guardian angle has always been Superman. And science would once again offer its explanation. He was rocketed away from a doomed planet, and the rays of our sun react differently to his alien body. Completely random spurting of gas, burning and dying over the course of eons gave his body a genetic make up that would one day traverse the carnivores and monsters of his planet to make him into what chemically he was. He then was taken in by an earth family that thought him right from wrong. Some 80 some years later, here I stand, giving a speech about the greatest guardian angle. Here I stand, my life a product of eons of evolution of two worlds, because a man went out of his way. Not just for me, but for the world. Every time I think about the universe as floating heap of gas, I always come back to that day I fell seventy stories. And some how, of all the random things that took place to put me in front of you today; they seem too random to be random. They seem like a course set in time by something. It could be a god. It could be a fundamental law of the universe. But by all medical accounts, I was a dead kid…_

"…but thanks to him," A seventeen year old Calvin Lark nodded to the large statue of Superman he was standing in front of, "I had a chance at life. A chance won by a guardian angle, acting as an embodiment of what we should all be. One year after his death, we remember his actions, and how they brought an end to chaos and bringing some semblance of order. I see no random in that. Thank-you." Before him, a large gathered crowd stood, respectfully clapping at the close of his final words. The brown haired boy looked out to the sea of people. All eyes had been on him. All ears listening to him. Even when dwarfed by the colossal memorial statue, they where clapping for him, speaking about his fuzzy memory of being saved by Superman. It was overwhelming.

"Thank-you, Mr. Lark," the event coordinator said as Calvin stepped down from the podium, passing the next speaker, "Ms. Lang." the announcer finished, as the elderly woman, somewhere close to her 80s or 90s stood up and walked towards the podium.

"I knew Superman before he was Superman. We were good friends in school, and to the day he died, he always was able to talk to me…" The woman began her speech as Calvin weaved through the crowds, looking for his family. The teen was buzzing with energy as he approached the tree towards the back they said they would be near. He scanned the area until he saw the distinctive receding hair line of his father, and wispy blond hair of his mother.

"Hey," He said, approaching the couple. The woman turned and grabbed him in a tight bear hug and knocking the boy's thick framed glasses askew.

"That was amazing," She screamed in glee, forcing several other members of the on going crowd to make a disgusted shushing noise, "you looked like your father up there. Didn't he Daniel?"

"He got that from you, Sue," The man said, as he ruffled Calvin's hair, "you know I couldn't right anything like that to save my life, much less speak in front of this crowd."

"Thanks," Calvin said as he looked around his parents. Michael, his fourteen year old brother was no where to be seen. "Where's Mike?"

Daniel looked over to a tree; leaves bright read and yellow in the mid-autumn color. Underneath the golden red tree sat a boy, slightly shorter then Calvin, with equally golden hair. The family freak as he referred to himself, Michael stood out because he was actually different from his parents. The only member of the family of four to not need glasses, and, Calvin would never admit it, the only one who looked good at all. "You know how he gets," Daniel said pointing in the boy out, "be gentle."

Calvin walked over to his brother and sat beside him. Michael bore an expression of extreme distaste and gave only the faintest of glances towards the new comer. "You okay?" Calvin asked. Mike didn't answer. He stared straight at the stage, as if intent on hearing the old bat talk about how much capes where a poor fashion choice. Calvin's penetrating stares didn't make his brother flinch. Not even spare a second glance.

* * *

The ride home from the park was again silent. Calvin had always dealt best with little praise, and his parents knew that they would only make him uncomfortable on the train trip back. Instead, the brown haired boy looked down at the city below them. It was interesting after the redesign. During an invasion by the forces of Darkseid, Metropolis suffered the worst damages. And it was heavily rebuilt. The city proper now had no ground level roads. Most traffic flowed underneath in the "under-city" the remains of the original ground levels of Metropolis. Above them, pedestrians crossed with out seeing a single headlight. Above the "high-city", the new ground floor, rail ways acted as mass transit. They were another interesting feature, a system of trains run completely by magnetic propulsion. The hallmark of this system was that there was always a car in a station, allowing minimum wait times at the station and a virtually free car. Of course, to avoid the stopping of the train, one could hop the various monorails that circled the city around several key points. They made few stops around the city and connected the various magnet train lines.

The magnet train pulled into a station three stops down from the round about and the doors slide open. The car slowed to a crawl alongside a moving sidewalk, which ushered the patrons to the nearest exit. The Lark family disembarked, and made their way for the suburban home they lived in. It was a matter of principle that they now lived their. Daniel was so frightened by Calvin's meet and greet with Superman, that he began packing the apartment close to his job for a house closer to earth. He didn't actually know it would be this particular house, just a house. A sleek black car was parked in front of the garage, which housed the van. They were more show pieces then actual cars, owing to the mass transit system and lack of parking in the under-city. The front lawn was groomed perfectly by Daniel, accented with flower gardens that where kept by Susan. A few brown leaves lay on the ground, but it wasn't enough to bring out the rakes. The house was a small two story building with a patio over the garage. The downstairs was a two room floor. The large of the two rooms was cornered off into three separate sections: The living room, study, and dining room. Although no walls existed between the areas, it was still very different being in the study and in the living room (even though one could see the living room TV from the study's desk perfectly). The other room, cornered off by an actual wall was the kitchen.

Up stairs were two bed rooms, a hall and a single bath. Anything larger was out of the income of the family, and so the brothers shared a room their whole life. The boy's bed room also had an interesting way of sectioning itself. Space posters and odds and ends from different cultures hung over Michael's bed. Calvin's side had pictures of various girls and sports heroes. There was one desk in the room, which held debris from both of the brothers, and their own computer. Above it was a quark board loaded with pictures of the two boys from various vacations and events.

The family entered the house, and Michael made a bee-line for the wall mounted TV. He flipped it on just in time to catch the opening tones of the web news. A digital anchor came on and began to speak. "Our top news story for tonight, the one year anniversary of Superman's death. Last year, Superman mysteriously disappeared from a Metro-tower in downtown Metropolis after a large fight with an unknown enemy." As this began, Calvin took a seat on the couch with Michael, watching the various pictures of the Man of Steel, "his body later turned up on top of Luthor tower, discovered by Lex Luthor, who had just returned from after disappearing in the battle with Darkseid more then 60 years ago. The memorial was kicked off by a series of speeches from those most touched by Superman, followed by…" Michael got up and went up stairs quietly. Calvin turned to watch him leave, half tempted to pursue some type of comfort. But Mike probably wanted time alone right now. And Calvin was forced to respect that.

* * *

A bubbling crock-pot on the stove filled the kitchen with the smells of beef stroganoff as Susan stirred the stew. She looked over to Daniel, who was on the phone with the big boss; the guy who signed the pay checks. It was unusual for the assistant D.A. to watch. She was normally the one being called away from the family for a big meeting. Rather, it was her husband who was fighting to stay for the dinner. It was an uphill battle for sure.

"That was Luthor," he said as he hung up, "he said he heard Calvin's speech and wanted to congratulate him."

"That wasn't the only reason he called," Susan noted.

"Well, no. He says he wants me to show him something at the lab. Says it's important."

"It must be to have the gall of ruining your son's big night."

"No, Luthor has the gall of threatening my job if I didn't come."

"Well, go and bring home the bacon. I'll serve it to the boys."

Daniel gave his wife a good-bye kiss and walked out the door, passing Calvin who was waiting for the sports report. "Dad," the boy said as his father blew past, "what's up?"

"Work," Daniel said quietly as he opened the door. As the smell of the plates of stroganoff entered the den, the car outside roared to life, pulling out of the drive way, and heading off for the lab.

"Cal, you know he wouldn't do this without a good reason." Susan said as the family started eating their meal. Calvin rolled a meat ball around in the sauce as a response.

"I know." Calvin said as he took a bite of the noodles.

"He really is proud of you," Susan said as she looked across the table to her eldest son. The brown hair boy was, "he never could have done what you did up there when he was your age."

"C-can I b-be ex-excused?" Michael asked quietly.

"Calvin," Susan began, not hearing Mike, "he just wants you boys to be able to live a good life. He cares about you two, and if his boss is a pain in the ass, then we just need to deal with it.

"But he knew how important that speech was," Cal added, "He could have hung around for dinner or at least told me more then that he was going to work."

"CAN I BE EXCUSED?!" Michael yelled. The rest of the table looked at him in a stunned silence. He didn't wait for an answer. Calvin just got up and walked up the stairs towards his room, leaving the rest of the table in a state of shock.

* * *

Calvin opened the door to the shared bedroom, and walked in. Michael sat on the bed listening to music on his Ipod. The older brother took a seat in a swivel chair at the desk and booted up the laptop on it. "You want to talk about it?" Calvin asked.

Michael looked away from his brother, out the window towards the neighbor's house. "N-nothing to t-talk ab-about."

"I know you're lying," Calvin said as he began typing at the computer, "You always get like this…"

"…I SAID NO!" Mike bellowed. An awkward silence followed, broken only by the clicking of the keys on the computer. Calvin didn't bother to look back. He knew that Mike needed to let things out on his own terms, and pushing him to speak would only make things worse. True to his nature, the younger brother broke the silence, "Sh-she just l-la-laughed. I-I asked K-Kayla to ho-homecoming, and sh-she j-just la-laughed."

"And you didn't tell me? Dude, bros before hoes," Calvin said, rolling his chair closer to Mike's bed, "And we're real bros, so it counts for double or something."

"I-I tried to pl-plan it o-out, but I just st-started st-tu-tuttering."

"You didn't do anything wrong, man," Calvin said as his brother turned to face him, "so if she wants to miss out on you, it's her problem." Michael turned away again, looking out the window. Calvin took this as a sign that he wasn't helping and rolled back towards the computer. After another silent bout of wallowing, the elder brother again spoke, "I was about to ask Cree, almost did, and then her date came up and started making out with her. If it helps." He looked over to the mournful Michael, who did not move at this revelation. Calvin turned back to his computer and read the page he needed for his homework assignment.

"Sh-she's o-out of y-your l-le-league." A much more cheerful sounding Mike said.

* * *

West Metropolis High School was just like any other high school in the city. It had its fair share of good kids and bad kids in the building along with teachers, faculty and other usual characters. It was a large; three story building, currently in a modern renaissance after several wealthy alumni gave a generous amount of money to refurbish the school. Behind it was a football field, and attached to the building was a pool for the swim team.

The halls where decked with lockers in the green and gold school colors, and matching banners flew from the ceiling. Calvin stood at one of the green lockers, and began twisting the lock in combination. _6-19-38. _Click! He flung open the door and began loading his book bag with necessary stuff for the classes up to his lunch break. As he pulled out a chem. book, a tall girl with long black hair, tied in a single pony tail, slammed her back against the lockers next to him. Linda had been a friend since childhood, and aside from Mike, was probably the only person Calvin ever discussed things in secret with.

"Caught you on the web news last night," She said as Calvin looked at the books in his locker, "you were good."

"Thanks." Calvin said as he shut the locker.

"You're getting tired of hearing that, aren't you?" Linda asked, looking towards her friend. Calvin only grinned, "I swear to God, you are too modest for your own good."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"Change the subject to how badly Cree shot you down?"

"I thought you weren't going to bring it up?"

"And let Mike have all the fun of picking on you?"

"So, do you have a date?"

"Robert asked, but I'm not sure I want to go with him again." She answered, changing to the tone of voice to more serious once her own love life was brought up. Linda knew where this was going. She expected it as much as she expected the sickened face Calvin made at the mention of Robert's name. She smiled "I knew you would say that."

"Robert is just so critical…"

"He's the co-editor of the school news paper. It's his job to be critical." Linda interrupted.

"…of me." Calvin finished. His friend looked a little upset by the notion of where the conversation was leading. Calvin didn't like pursuing the subject, but Linda did need to be honest with herself. Robert wasn't who she wanted to go with. "So who are you holding out for?"

"Someone else." Linda vaguely answered.

"And does this person have a name?"

"Some… one… else." She answered in a low hushed whisper.

"Oh."

"Trouble in paradise, huh Calvin?" Another voice rang down the hall. Calvin didn't need to turn to see who it was: William "Shark" Carlson. Will and Calvin used to be buds, but will started running with a different crowd, a group that associated with the Splicers, a gang that used recombinant genetic technology to alter their physical powers and give them animal like features. As Will's nickname implied, Will had taken a dose of Great White Shark splicing serum. This wouldn't have bothered Calvin much, but Will mad a point of taking it the day before a big swim meet, forcing Calvin and his teammates to lose. Shark wasn't liked by many members of the team for this, but Calvin held the biggest grudge.

And of course, accompanying the fishy man was Sean "Arch" Towson. Even before the change, Sean was a weird loner. He enjoyed watching odd looking bugs and being different for different's sake. He has some major inferiority complexes and worshiped the ground Will walked on. His blonde Mohawk was a distinguishing feature long before the blood read scorpion's tail, and now served as bright contrast. The other character was one Haley "Stripes" Roads, Will's current girlfriend. Calvin did admit that she had a more tasteful appearance then the other splicers, which seemed the trend. Her tiger genes brought a nice shade of white and black to the girls face, and the metabolism had helped her weight problem.

"I thought I smelled a fish that couldn't swim." Calvin said, turning to face the threesome.

"Can't help it if I want to be in touch with my true self, dog," Shark said as he approached his fellow swimmer, "School just ain't down with me."

"Your true self looks like a cheap horror movie monster?" Linda interjected. Her wit was often times a source of problems, and this would not be an exception, "And to think I thought better of you."

"Watch it, norm," Haley taunted in a low growling voice. To her side, Sean curled his tail menacingly. She continued, "You wouldn't want my friend to sting ya."

"Come on, Lin," Calvin said in a slow hushed voice. The world would like to believe that splicers were not as violent as they were 15 years ago. But everyone knew otherwise, "We have a class."

"No, Cal," Linda said, putting her hands on her hips in a defiant pose. With the exception of Shark, she was easily the tallest person in the crowd, "they want you to run away scared. It gives them a very cheap high, looking uglier then most justice league baddies."

"Why don' you say that to my face, norm?" Shark said in a very loud voice.

"I would," Linda shot back, "but your breath smells worse then my father's bait bucket."

With a roar, Shark charged at the black haired girl, slamming her into the lockers and holding her in place with one forearm pressed against her chest. The shark-man drew his face close. "How's… that… again?" He questioned in a low whisper, blowing a breath of his hot air onto the girl. Linda's face turned into a repulsed expression as she tried not to look Shark in the eyes.

"Leave her alone," Stripes asked as the first bell rang, "she ain't worth it."

"Will," Calvin yelled. His words seemed to catch the ears of the fish better then Haley's, as the splicer turned to look at the boy with glasses, "let her go."

Shark removed his arm from Linda's chest, causing her to fall to the floor. He walked over to his former teammate and looked him straight in the eye. "Don't ever call me that again." He said, using the same exaggerated pauses to allow the noxious fumes of his breath to do the job of ten thugs. Will pulled up to his full height and looked back at his friends. "Come on, let's bounce."

The group of splicers left the halls for their own classes, leaving the two friends. Calvin watched as the group walked away. When he was sure they were out of sight, he finally spoke. "Lin, you really should report him to the cops for that." She gave no response. "Lin?" Calvin said, turning to see a look of horror on her face.

"My God," She slowly said, "it reeks."

* * *

"…In Gator's Soccer," the homeroom teacher read from the list of announcements. Mike sat in the back of the room looking at an empty desk and sighed, "Tommy Olten brought a victory home to West Met over visiting Sawyer High Grey Hounds."

The door opened, and a red headed girl with pig tails walked in. The teacher looked up from his list. Mike watched the girl as Mr. Walter informed her to take a seat. The hour glass figure moved to the empty chair three seats down and two over, and took her seat. She looked back. She looked at Mike. He lifted his sleepy head off the desk. She quickly turned her head away, and Mike dropped his head back to the plastic. "The West Met Times is looking for new writers for submissions for the paper. All those interested are asked to come to a meeting at 3:15 today. See Robert Long if you are unable to attend."

* * *

Twenty minutes after three. Coach was going to flip. Sure, Calvin could get a note, but Coach Shuster could be a real pain about that sort of thing. To him, the apocalypse wasn't enough to miss practice. A little make up chem. test certainly didn't cut it.

Calvin looked back down at the paper. It was a simple true or false, how could he forget it. Okay, so it needed some math behind it that Calvin didn't remember, but they had done this problem literally two days ago. He should have remembered what the answer was, even if showing work was mandatory. He scrawled what was the best number he could think of and worked his way backwards. False seemed correct. He marked the bubble and closed the stapled papers together and ran the paper up to the teacher.

"Done, Mr. Lark?" The woman asked.

"I think so, Ms. Kendelson," the boy said, a little flustered, "can I have a note? Coach Shuster will kill me for being this late."

"Sure," She pulled out a note pad and began to scrawl the note on to the yellow paper. Calvin tapped his paper impatiently as the old woman finished with a loopy signature. "You did a great job on the speech, Mr. Lark," She said as she handed the paper to him, "if you ever become a public figure, I'm sure we can expect something great from you."

"Um, Thanks." Calvin said as he grabbed his books and bolted out of the door. He was really late now. Damn Ms. Kendelson and her hard test. Damn. Damn. Damn.

WHAM. Rounding the corner of the hall, he collided dead on with someone else, spilling rolls of wrapping paper everywhere. "Sor…" He looked at the girl he had just hit. She had dark skin and brown hair. Her amber eyes stared right back at him. She was just as shocked to see him as he was to see her. "…Sorry, Cree!"

"I thought you were in practice with just about…"

"…Make up test for the, um, thing yesterday."

"Oh." She dropped to the ground and began rolling up the nearest tube of wrapping paper. Calvin followed suit, grabbing a bright blue sheet and rolling it back onto the cardboard.

"So, what's all this for?" He asked, as the paper shrunk back onto the tube.

"Brett's birthday is tomorrow. I just thought I'd do something ni…"

"Here," Calvin said, knowingly cutting her off from finishing the sentence. His roll wasn't even neatly wound, looking sloppily finished.

"I'm sorry," She said, sounding mildly exacerbated, "but he did beat you to the quest…"

"… I know. Maybe some other time?" He suggested. It wasn't a good thing to say to the quarterback's girlfriend, but he was at practice, "I gotta go. See ya?"

"Yeah." She said as Calvin rushed down the halls, leaving the rest of the mess on the ground.

* * *

_They have a window! _Mike said to himself as he passed the door. It wasn't like a normal window between to rooms, but a real, house window. Painted white and looking like it could slide open and closed. It had a rustic feel in the city school, and looked like something Mike was sure wasn't even in most country homes anymore. Inside, a group of people where moving around, going towards the door. The blonde haired boy rushed towards the door, as the crowd left. He looked inside, seeing a few people. Only one guy, who was reading a piece of paper with a girl looking over him.

"It just doesn't flow." The guy said, making marks on the sheet. "You need to cut out a lot of this useless fan girl stuff you have here."

"But he stared in the movie." The girl protested.

"And I want to hear about the other actor's performances as well."

"They were crap."

"And you gave me it an A+ review?" The boy turned to see Mike, "Who are you?" Before Mike had a chance to answer, the boy turned back to the girl, "If it stunk aside from this actor, give it a C- or something. Don't tell the readers it was good when you only went to drool over some guy." He turned back to Mike, "Are you lost?"

"N-no," Mike said as the guy turned to mark up the paper. "I-I wanted to jo-join the news pa-aper. Is Ro-Robert in?"

The boy gave the paper to the girl, who walked towards the door. "You're talking to him, kid." The boy said once the girl left, "So, you have a sample I can read?"

"I wro-wrote it during m-my free p-period," Mike said as he thrusted a piece of paper towards the kid, who took it and read. Robert remained quiet while he read the print out. He looked up and mouthed a few words occasionally as he looked over the text. Some five minutes later, he put the papers back and order and handed them back to Mike.

"Your name's Mike Lark, right?" He asked, as Mike shook his head, "any relation to Calvin Lark?"

"H-He's my Bro-brother."

"Cal Lark? Tell him I said hi." Robert said as he looked at a computer screen and began typing.

"Wha-What abo-about my ar-article?"

"What about it, it was good. Not great, but you know?"

"So do I-I have an a-assignment?"

"No assignments," Robert said as he turned again to look at the blond hair boy, "write about something for the community. If you need a good direction, no one takes local news. You do a good story about something local, like, a park clean up or a speech, I'll defiantly run it."

"Li-like the o-one Calvin gave yes-yesterday?"

"Why not?" Robert said in a somewhat sarcastic tone, "make the whole event seem warm and fuzzy, just make it good."

"Th-thanks" Mike stammered as he turned out of the office. This was going to be tougher then he thought. How did one make Superman's death by a shard Kryptonite to the heart 'warm and fuzzy'?

* * *

Calvin pulled out his jammer and slammed the door to his locker. He already swapped his glasses for his "lucky" goggles. They weren't really lucky, just prescription goggles that allowed him to see. He always put them on early to get them adjusted to his body temperature, so the would not fog up. Despite the empty locker room, self consciousness got the better of him, and he walked into one of the toilet stalls to change.

As he began to take his shirt off, Calvin heard the door to the room fly open with a bang. His ears listened for voices. No one would be in a locker room nearly a half hour after practices started.

"Check the stalls!" Will's voice called to the second person. Shark defiantly wouldn't be in a mood to find out Calvin was in the room. Rather then walk out and hope that no anger was felt from the early morning, Cal climbed up onto the seat of the toilet, hoping that Arch was only smart enough to check the break between the floor and the ground...

A scary shadow stopped in front of the small gap that allowed for light. Calvin could make out the red tail as it swayed above the door. He held his breath as the shadow moved. The red arachnid skin of the degenerate darted in the space between the door and the stall wall, and then back again. "All Clear," the scorpion's voice echoed, "so, you really got it?"

"I told you and Stripes I got the goods," Shark retorted, as a clicking lock was heard, "See? Ol' man gave it to me. Said we should go nuts."

"So, some dude you've never seen before…"

"…Oh, I've seen him before."

"…comes up to you and offers you splicing serum with Superman's genetic code?" Arch asked skeptically, "Sure you aren't getting conned out of good money?"

"If I'm gettin' conned, I'm getting my money's worth." Shark laughed, "Ol' fool gave it to me for free."

"Well let's do it. Let's take the stuff right now."

"Gladly," Shark said, "I'm getting tired of not being in control."

SPLASH! In a nervous state of panic, Calvin's foot fell into the bowl. Even with out the super-hearing they were about to get, Shark and Arch would have certainly heard that. "I thought you said this place was empty." Shark bellowed.

"There was no one in there. I swear."

"Well there is now. Find out who it is."

Calvin heard the foot falls of the red skinned splicer approach. BANG! The stall door nearest to the exit flew open and hit the wall. It was empty, and Arch moved on to the second. It too made a loud bang as it flew open, revealing no occupants. More footsteps and…. THUD! Arch rammed right into the door in front of Cal. A long pause followed and then….

CRASH! A red scorpion stinger, the size of a basket ball with a point as large as an ice cream cone erupted through the metal door. Calvin fell off the toilet, landing on his back and narrowly missing the stinger. Shards of metal hit his face, cutting his cheeks. A few flecks fell onto his goggles. The tail began to retract out of the door. As the large sting came to the hole, the deformed metal bent with it, trapping Sean. The tail shot out and tried to retract again.

While the Scorpion was busy with this, Calvin did a log roll under the gap in the stalls, until he was two down and out of reach of the first monster. He got up and opened the door, emerging to a hissing Arch. Calvin flicked the creature off, and rounded the corner to the lockers and right into the second one. Shark picked up the boy around the throat and looked him in the eye.

"How cute, A kid playin' hero," He laughed, slamming Calvin into the wall, "let's just see what you look like with that mask off." With his free hand, Will reached for the goggles. He put his scaly hands on one of the lenses as Arch, no free watch.

BAM! Calvin felt his fist connect with the nose of the shark. Like any survival book predicted, the fish-man howled in pain and released Calvin. He had no time to catch his breath, as Arch was already to attack. Calvin ran down the row of lockers, the scorpion closing the gap.

POW! He flew off his feet and into the bench. He hit something plastic as he skidded on the seat, slamming head long into a row of lockers and causing the item to fall to the floor somewhere down the line. Cal, dazed and confused, rolled over and fell to the floor. His hand fell on something sharp and he screamed out in pain. He looked up to see a shocked face on the Mohawk scorpion. The creature very faintly, yet very audibly uttered "Damn it."

At that moment, Calvin's head screamed with pain. Despite the goggles, everything went blurry. His ears were in pain from a sound of nails on a chalk board. He rolled over to see something like a large empty syringe sticking out of his arm. He pulled it out as he tried to stand, Arch backing away as Shark ran up to his friend, eyes in horror.

Like some kind of drunk, Calvin tumbled to the ground, once again landing on his back. The blurry vision continued as he fell to the ground. He looked over at the syringe, as the world took on a red tint, and a fire erupted at the spot he was staring

"Let's get out of here!" One of the two splicers yelled. Calvin turned over on his stomach to try and get up, but fell back to the ground. He crawled a little ways, but the smoke was making the world go dark. He could barely see. He coughed. And then the world went completely dark…

* * *

"Calvin…" A faint voice called. Calvin fluttered his eyes. He didn't want to go to school today. He felt so sick. "Calvin, can you here me?"

"Uhn!" He muttered, turning over in his bed.

"CALVIN!"

"Wha?!" The boy bolted up. Instantly he knew something was wrong. He wasn't in his room. He wasn't in a fire. Was the fire a dream? Was it real? He looked towards the source of the voice, a man with in a suit with dark black hair and a matching mustache.

"Glad you're awake," The man state in a brisk tone, "I'm agent Ryder and we need to talk…"

"…About what?" Calvin asked lazily.

"We could start with that fire you started in the locker room or..."

"I didn't start any fires in the…"

"…Or the fact that we wiped **your** blood off of **your** face, despite the fact that you don't have a scratch." The agent coldly finished, much more sternly then the first option.

"What department are you from?" Calvin asked skeptically.

"The bureau of Meta-human affairs..."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	2. Journey: Part Two

**Journal of a Superman**

By S.P. Bley

Journey: Part Two

"I want my mom." Calvin said, to the strange man in his hospital room. The guy only sneered.

"Please," Ryder said, wrinkling his nose at the thought of what the boy just said, "you're not in any trouble, yet. I was curious. I'll move onto my real investigation. Did anyone in the room show you anything… odd?" He chose his words carefully as he took the chair next to Calvin. If the kid thought odd was birth mark on a friend who rarely took off his shirt, Ryder's job was done. If it was a flying saucer, it got fun.

"Odd how?" Calvin asked, playing dumb.

"Bureau of Meta-human affairs odd, son," the agent said in an official sounding voice, "something that most normal people would never see in their life times."

"We know by security camera that two Splicers were in the locker room prior to the fire alarm going off. It was a long time before emergency response got there. It was an even longer time before they found you. In the locker room. And you're not even scratched, much less burned."

Calvin glared at the man. "I was out the whole time. How could I know what happened?"

"Son, did you see anything in the Splicers' possession that they could use to cause a lot of damage?"

"No." He lied.

"Did they use anything on you?" The man asked as he scrawled some notes.

"No." Calvin lied again.

"You are aware that Under the Meta-humans Act of 2064, I am not at liberty to disclose any meta-human behavior to any party not directly involved, including your parents. Do you want to tell me what happened now?" Ryder did not look up at all from his frantic note taking, instead getting up and walking towards the door. "We'll be in touch." He coldly stated as he put on a tan hat and overcoat let himself out of the room. Calvin sat back in his bed and fell asleep.

* * *

"He's waking up." The boy's eyes flickered as he pushed off blankets in the hospital room. The lights where on as Calvin's eyes, not yet accustom to his last guest's like of dark interrogation rooms, opened slightly to view the surroundings. It was actually earlier then he expected. The sun was only just setting. It must be close to seven in the evening. He looked over to see the speaker, his mother, coming back into the room. "The doctor's said that you could go home as soon as you were awake."

"I was fine," He said, fully awake, as if what ever happened in the locker room was gone, "didn't that detective guy tell you he spoke to me?"

"What detective?" Susan asked her son, "No one came into your room since you got here. And you've been out since they found you."

"Honey, I just need you to sign this." A nurse came in and handed a clip board to Calvin. He signed his name, and the nurse left. "It'll be about two hours, why don't you get dressed, honey." She said as she walked towards the door.

The teen slipped into a bathroom and put on the fresh clothes his mother had bought from home, along with a spare pair of glasses. He stepped out to see his Susan watching the news. A picture of the huge cloud of smoke rising over the familiar high school sent shivers down Calvin's spine. "That's amazing that you were found in the middle of that alive." Susan said as she looked at her son, now out of the ugly hospital gown. "How'd you get pull it off?"

"I don't know," Calvin said as he watched pictures of soot covered people coming out of the doors to the gym area, "just lucky, I guess."

* * *

Dinner was cold pizza that was ordered because none of the men in the family could cook. Calvin ate it anyway. It was a rough day, and he was not ready to talk about it. After all, he didn't know anything about it. He scarfed down the cold slice while Mike watched a Sitcom on the large wall mounted TV. A few bad jokes and some timed laughs filled the room in the house with sound. Calvin dropped the crust onto the plate, and walked it over to Mike. "Here," He handed the plate to Mike, knowing his brother loved the doughy part of the pizza better then the actual pizza. Calvin then turned towards the door.

"Wh-Where are y-you go-going?" Mike asked the lock to the exit clicked.

"Just clearing my head," Calvin said, "after all that smoke, I need some fresh air."

"Y-You're h-head was f-foggy befor-ore the sm-smoke." Mike stuttered, "why c-care n-no-ow?"

"Funny." The elder brother sarcastically observed. He closed the door behind him and stepped out into the night air. After taking a stroll around the blocks, Calvin's feet carried him to a small park. He had come here with his parents to play on the jungle gym. It was here where he formed his friendship with both Will and Linda. It was here where he first saw Cree Franklin, the girl he couldn't have. It was here he impressed all the other kids with his over embellished tails of how he met Superman.

Superman, was that even real? What happened in the locker room; the fight. Calvin was stuck with the splicing serum, wasn't he? How else would that fire start? Calvin sat under the tree to try and think it out. There was as much logical reasoning to make it a dream as it there was to make it a reality. He stuck out his lower lip. It was a nervous habit Calvin had when he was thinking: force his breath up, rather then out, and lifting his bangs as it was into the air. He blew.

A sound very much like a blustery windstorm roared from the teens lips as the current flew up his face. The pressure difference caused his glasses to lift off the bridge of his nose as the air passed Calvin's hair. Normally a gust that was unable to clear his scalp, the exhale zoomed well above the boy, blowing the fall leaves off the branches above him. The thick framed glasses hit the ground, but Calvin didn't need them to see. His vision was crystal clear, for the first time, with out them.

As the leaves fell in an orange snow shower, the world seemed to stop. Not stop, actually, but slow down. Calvin reached for his specs as an acorn slowly descended, like it was trapped in a gel. The boy tucked the thick frames into his short pocket as he looked towards the city skyline. It had to be a dream, but…

He was off. Moving faster then he normally did, Calvin raced towards the playground. As he reached the barrier between the grass and the mulch, the boy gathered strength. There was now way he was doing what he was doing. With a strong push off the ground, like a swimmer starting from the wall, Calvin rocketed over the jungle gym. He put his hands to his sides, making him more streamline as he rose over the rest of the park, parting a row of pine trees he moved between with the displaced air.

The wind whipped his face as Calvin began his ascent. Below him, the traffic of the city was shrinking. He really was flying. The saw the magnet train, and followed over head, picking up speed and height. The train crossed over the river that separated New Troy from his borough of Queensland Park as the roads flanking the elevated tracks disappeared into the under-city. Eventually, Calvin rose above New Troy's high towers and over took the magnet train he was following.

Leveling off, Calvin looked down at the streets below. His hair, caught in the up drafts of the towers, blew around his face as he watched the people walking around the upper-city walks between towers and buildings. He climbed higher, passing through a cloud. The moisture condensed to his body as he passed through, leaving a distinct look of someone who had been lightly misted. Calvin was really doing it: he was really flying. It wasn't a dream that he landed on the splicing fluid. He really had Superman's powers. _You know what this means, _he thought as he doubled back, heading towards the shores of Queensland Park, _don't blow off the guy telling you about great responsibility._

* * *

"I don't know. X-ray vision, I guess," Daniel said as flipped through the channels of the TV, "be awesome to see through anything."

"Dad," Mike said, exacerbated, "I'm tr-trying to write a se-serious article, n-not a ba-bad stand-up a-act."

"You know your father, Mike," Susan said as she looked up from her book, "can't do anything with out finding the corniest joke, even if he forgets that he's married."

"Do you know how much x-ray machines cost?" Dan asked rhetorically, "If I could see with out it, I'd save so much on my research fund."

"You'd look at girls and you know it," Susan teased, "you're still the same as the day I met you. Just with less hair."

"Okay, same question your son asked me," the father retorted, "If you could have one of Superman's powers, which one would it be?"

"Strength," Susan quickly replied as the front door opened, "I'd never need to worry about walking anywhere in this city." She turned to see the final member of the family enter the house, "Cal, how's your head?"

"I'm fine." He replied.

"You look like a drowned rat," Daniel stated, "where did you go?"

"Park," Calvin stated, "I got hit by a sprinkler on the way back." He lied.

"Hey, Cal, if y-you had only-y one of Su-Su-perman's pow-powers, which one would y-you w-want?" Mike asked as he turned away from the computer monitor.

"Flight," Calvin answered in a-matter-fact-tone, "you'd get all the best views. And I heard that he could fly in space. That would be an awesome sight."

"That's not my son. My son would have picked X-ray vision." Daniel announced. Susan gave Daniel a stern look, and the smile on the man's face died almost instantly.

"I think that's the best power," Susan declared, "I'm changing mine."

Calvin turned to look at Mike, "Why do you want to know this?"

"Wor-working on an ar-art-icle for the news-s-paper." Michael answered, "I thought-t it wo-would be inter-teresting to ha-have a sm-small poll."

"You're actually doing something for fun that involves Robert Long?"

"Ye-yeah."

"Linda isn't going to like that."

"Why's that, Cal?" Susan asked as she got up to get a drink from the fridge, "I thought they like each other?"

"Lin's just nice," Calvin answered, "she really doesn't like him that much?"

"Who's she holding out for?" The mother asked as she walked back into the room.

"Someone else." Calvin repeated the answer that Linda had given him earlier that day. He walked towards the stairs. "I've got homework, I'll talk later."

"Real quick," Susan called back as he walked up the stairs, "what did Cree say?"

"She was busy that night." Calvin lied.

* * *

Up in his room, Calvin pulled open his drawers and began to go through clothes. All the powers of Superman, and he couldn't make a decent uniform? There was nothing in his wardrobe that screamed "Man of Steel". A few red t-shirts, a few blue jeans, but all had distinct brands, or where just not Super-hero material enough for Calvin to consider. He pulled open another draw and dug through it. As he pulled out a pair of underwear, he saw a box inside the draw; something like a Macy's clothing box that grandma always packed Christmas gifts in. Calvin didn't remember what it was at all. Certainly, he would have never put the clothes box in his dresser drawer. And he was the only one who put his clothes away.

Slowly, he pulled the lid off of the box and moved the tissue paper. Inside was a red and blue shirt. He pulled it out and unfolded it. It was mostly a blue shirt; however, the top portion was designed as if a red diamond shape was laid on top of the blue fabric. The shape went up from the bottom of his chest, widening over the neck and shoulders, and forming a complementary area on the back. The base of the diamond was the distinctive S shield logo that Calvin had recognized as the symbol of Superman.

Calvin laid the shirt on the bed as he pulled out the next articles of clothing from the box- a pair of blue pants, the same shade as the blue on the shirt. Beneath that, there was a pair of dark red fingerless gloves and matching red sneakers. As he pulled out the last of the articles of clothing, he found an envelope beneath the clothing. Calvin opened the letter and pulled out a type written note:

_Dear Calvin,_

_You will grow to do many great things. Many people will have the chance to live because of you. I cannot tell you how I know, for reasons that are my own, but know this: I will watch your career with great pride. I know not the battles you will face, but that you will face them for all the right reasons. If I can part some advice to you, when faced with the worst of choices, picking Life has never been the wrong one. It may be the hard one, but it is never the wrong one. I remember the time I had to pick between your life and your death once. I chose life because I knew that you would do the same in return someday. Here is your chance, the gauntlet cast. Will you rise to the challenge?_

_ S._

Calvin turned to look out the window. There was one person who he would think had given him the gift. And the new Superman could have sworn the old one was dead.

* * *

Mike broke away from his brother the next morning at school. He had a mission, and he didn't want Calvin to know. His brother would have thought it was cool, but he would have been over protective. In this case, Michael had to do it himself. He rounded a corner and saw the person he was looking for shove some books into a gold locker.

"Linda," He called out, as he approached the girl, "what's up?"

She turned towards the new arrival. She had expected it to be Calvin. With out the stutter, Mike sounded just like her friend. "Nothing much, TGIF," She said as she put away her English text, "you?"

"I started wr-writing for the scho-ool news pap-per," he replied, noticing Linda's face making a sour look, "you don't like him, do you?"

"Are you in an investigative journalism moment?"

"No."

"No, I'm not too thrilled that he's the best offer I got." She sarcastically quipped.

"I have an i-idea-a," he stated, not quite making eye contact.

"Really?"

"Yeah, mu-utu-ual pit-ty date," he stuttered, then really rapidly repeated, "mutual pity date," as if sounding out the words to his little improve. Despite the awkward pauses, he liked the sound of the word he coined. He would need to look it up to see if he actually coined it.

"My best friend's kid brother, who I repeatedly called a dweeb no less then once a day, is asking me out," Linda spoke slowly, as if thinking out loud, "on a pity date."

"Mu-utu-ual. I'm as-sking you be-because y-you do-on't want to g-go with Robert and I-I feel so-sorry," Mike began to explain, "an-and I'm sure you feel so-sorry for me-e because Ka-Kayl-la la-laughed at me when I as-sked her…"

"Oh"

"S-See? So I fi-igured we should cut ou-out the middle man, and be mis-miserable to-ge-gether. Kind of li-like can-celing ou-out a-a ba-ad time," He finished.

"Did Calvin tell you to say that?"

"N-no."

"I thought not," she said in a pondering tone. Then her face lit up with a smile, "Michael Lark, I accept your proposal to spend a miserable night with you. Pick me up at seven, dweeb?"

* * *

The red light cast eerie shadows around the room as Daniel walked down it. It was a necessary precaution to have, but one he would have liked to work with out. The filters made it impossible for the experiments to escape. Not that they were conscious at all. He approached the nearest man and looked at him, "How are they doing today?"

"We should be ready in a week, Dr. Lark," the man said as he looked at the test tube, then a clip board, "It's weird, you know. I looked up to him when I was a kid. Now he's just another weapon the company makes."

"Don't think like that." The doctor corrected, "We're making a better world, one where no one will need to worry about crime or accidents, or nobody hearing their cries for help. Plus it will open up a new chapter in human biogenetics. Just think, with the research we're doing now, we could some day unlock this potential in humans. No one would die ever again…"

"Dr. Lark," a secretary called down into the lab, "the boss is on line one." Daniel left his conversation. It wasn't just any boss, it was the big one; the guy who signed the pay checks. He walked away from the other man, who looked up at the being floating in the tank. It was him up close and personal: Superman back from the dead.

"…Cept that guy with his green rock," the doctor said as he ticked off a few notes.

Inside his office, Dr. Lark picked up the phone on the desk. Most people assumed that it was just a decoration; an antique from a far flung era. An odd paper weight, as his wife had called them. But to Daniel, it was the only way to call out of the lab, which was lined with lead. No calls went through the walls. It was standard operating procedure to make the calls from these items. It also allowed for minimum eaves dropping. "Hello sir," Daniel coolly echoed into the receiver.

"Dr. Lark, how is the project?"

"Operation Ready-man is ahead of schedule. The first batch will be ready to be mobilized within the week."

"Good. This will put the company on the map."

"I know sir. This guy really did do it all. Even in death, he's making the world a better place…"

"Dr. Lark," the man on the other end interrupted, "have you ever heard the story of Jesus?"

"Yeah, but I prefer science."

"That may be so, but Jesus, son of God or not, did exist. Roman documents have been produced that place a man with that name on the cross in Jerusalem around the exact same time. Believe what you will, Doctor, but the man did cause a stir, a rebellion, a change in the world order all because he has died. You, a man of science, can understand the things people did in his name. Claimed it was a better place. But they did terrible things. We stand on the threshold of reviving a modern savior. And doing so will open a whole can of worms that will plague the world for decades, possibly centuries after this. Are you prepared to defend what you believe in when it comes down to it?"

Daniel paused. He looked out the window and down on the multitude of tubes, each holding a clone of Superman. He thought about his sons, living in a world with so much violence. He thought about his wife, and everything she did at work. Her most painful cases put to an end, "I am sir," he answered.

"Good," the other end replied, "I just wanted to make sure. Thank you, Doctor."

Daniel pulled the phone away from his ear, ready to put it down on the hook. "Doctor," the voice echoed, "one more thing: Your eldest has been in the news twice in 24 hours. The president rarely gets that much coverage. How is he handling it?"

"Pretty good," Daniel replied, "thanks for caring Mr. Luthor."

"Think nothing of it," the CEO's voice said, "I'm just keeping up on all of my family at Luthor Corp."

* * *

"No way," Calvin said as he took a bite from his PB&J sandwich, "Mutual Pity Date? And she bought into it?"

"If I'm l-lying, I'm d-dying," Mike answered, as he un-wrapped the aluminum foil from his own lunch.

"And she said yes?"

"She said yes."

"Dude," Calvin said in-between bites, "That is wicked smooth. Where did you learn to do that?"

"Not fro-om y-you."

"Damn straight," Calvin joked. He knew deep down that he needed to let Mike know, "you excited?"

"Yep."

"Awesome," Calvin said, in a less then enthusiastic tone.

Mike looked up, "What's wr-wrong?"

"I can't say…"

"Bro-os before h-hoes," Mike reminded his brother, "and we're re-real bros…"

"I'm going to kill myself for teaching you that one," Calvin said as he looked down at his drink, "Okay, but you can't tell anyone. Lin was holding out for an invite from someone else."

"You to-old m-me last ni-ight, I th-thought that meant anyo-one other th-than Robert."

"Well, yeah," Calvin danced around what he was about to say. He lowered his voice to whisper and continued, "She was hoping for a more female someone else." He looked up at Mike's face as the younger boy took in the words.

"You m-mean sh-she's…"

"She's bi, okay?" Calvin said in a low hissing whisper, "She hasn't told her parents yet, so don't go spreading this around."

"Wh-Why did I need to kn-know th-this?"

"I just thought you should know, because," Calvin searched for his own answer, "you know, she wants to let the world know, but that means her parents know too. And their not the most understanding people when it comes to that sort of thing. So she gets, well, distant. I just don't want you to be hurt."

"Yeah, sure," Mike said as he began packing up his things.

"What?"

"I'm not a little kid who needs your protecting, okay Cal?" Mike said, the anger removing his stutter, "and I certainly don't want you telling me I'm not what a girl wants, especially since I wasn't interrupted by another guy who she said yes to." Mike walked towards the exit of the cafeteria, tossing his bagged lunch in the garbage as he left. Calvin strained his eyes as the wall hid his brother. Slowly, it grew transparent, as did a good many other rooms and doors as the blonde boy walked around the corners of the school building. Mike rounded another corner, and came face to face with Linda. Focusing out the din of the cafeteria, Calvin listened as Mike's voice, now having a distinct echo, came back.

"Hey, um, I was just telling-ing Calvin abo-out us, um, g-going to the dance-ce, and he brought up some, um, stuff th-that I d-don't think-nk I should h-have heard."

"Like what?"

"He, well um, told me that you were, um, you were…"

"Cal, head in the game," A voice pierced the distant conversation. Calvin turned to see Bradley, another member of the swim team, standing near him, "just got the word from coach, practice is cancelled for today; investigation and all that. Spread the word."

"Yeah, sure," Calvin said as he strained his eyes again, looking for Mike or Linda. He strained his ears as they came into view.

"No, we're still on," Linda said in an upbeat voice, "your brother's inability to keep secrets doesn't get you off that easy…"

"Ol' man was pretty upset," another voice echoed into Calvin's ears.

"So we go find who ever it was who got stabbed?" Calvin recognized the voice. It was Stripes' voice. He took his gaze of Linda and Michael, and moved his eyes in his head until he found the threesome.

"Nah, boss has a new plan," Shark informed his friends.

"Yeah," Arch interrupted, almost exploding with the excitement of what he had planned, "Hit Aura Labs and blow the place to kingdom come. That's the plan." Calvin's eyes widened at this statement. Aura Labs was where his father worked. With that information, a new problem arose: He couldn't tell; there was no way he could have known. If Dad had to work late that night…

"So he has going from tearing up the city to blowing up labs?" Stripes skeptically asked, "I told you it was some suit wanting us to get rid of his company's competition. Who owns the lab?"

"Luthor…"

"Staring through space, Cal?" Bradley asked, once again interrupting the focus.

"You have no idea." Calvin answered.

* * *

"_Big Brother is watching you_. The popular slogan from George Orwell's _1984 _meant to represent a constant vigilant presence that existed in the form of the police state. Big Brother is a fiction character in this story," the English teacher droned in her lecture, "Ironically, in the 2000s, London, England, the setting of the story, became, and still is, the city where one is most likely to be seen by a camera. How do you kids feel about that? Linda?"

Calvin turned his head to see his friend, two rows back and one over, pull her hand down, "I think that the constant vigil would lead to repression of the people. The government can't always protect the people. Bad stuff happens all the time."

"So you believe that protecting a population means letting them live freely?" The teacher asked, cleaning her glasses in the process, "What if bad stuff happens?"

"There needs to be a trust between the government and the people," Linda explained, "the people need to trust that government will work for their best interests, and the government needs to trust that the citizens will do what is right."

Calvin opened up an IM on his computer desktop. _This is about me telling your secret, right?_

"But London has one of the lowest crime rates," the teacher tossed Linda a small hole in her explanation to fill.

"So do cities with high legal gun ownership," Linda answered, "sometimes the government needs to let the people handle themselves."

"Interesting," the teacher commented, "Mark, will you pick up from where we left off?" The student began to read out loud from the text as Calvin feigned taking notes while IMing Linda

_No, _her IM replied.

_So it has NOTHING to do with me?_

_No_

_Then what?_

_You trying to protect Michael._

was all that Calvin fired back.

_He needs to be able to get hurt. It's life. Protecting him from the inevitable is wrong._ The bell rang, and Calvin closed out of the programs. He logged out and waited for Linda to meet up with him.

"So," Calvin began as she approached, "you're not mad about me telling him that you're…"

"Shut up," Linda hissed, "and I am. But it's more of the issue with you baby sitting Michael."

"So what are you yelling about first?" Cal asked as they opened the double doors to the outside.

"You screwed up big time," Linda informed him. At that moment, one of the investigators walked up the stairs to the stairs towards the school. He was wearing a tan hat and a matching over coat. Calvin recognized him almost instantly, "both with me and Mike. I don't know- Calvin, are you alright?"

Calvin had moved his hand to block his face from the passing man, "Yes," he said, "no. It's nothing." Agent Ryder passed without saying anything,

"Nothing? You being afraid of the people who are invest…" A look of horror stopped Linda's sentence, "Oh my God. You started the fire."

"No," Calvin yelled.

"It makes sense," Linda explained, "you had to take a make up test. You could have been in the locker room when it happened."

"And what, nearly kill myself?"

"You seem perfectly fine for someone who was found in the thick of it."

"Lin, you got to trust me, I was not responsible for that fire."

"Right now, I can't trust you," She stated harshly, "what really happened in there, Cal?"

"I need to know you can keep my secret."

"You can trust me, Cal," Linda stated softly, "I can't trust you."

"Follow me," Calvin said, as he pulled her around the back of the school towards a secluded place, "I went into that locker room, and I heard Shark talking. He had something that could have caused a lot of people a lot of suffering. We got into a fight, and he accidentally used it on me." Calvin explained as they hid behind a dumpster.

"Used what on you?"

"I'll show you, but you can't tell anyone. Got it?"

"Got it."

"Close your eyes," Calvin ordered.

"What?"

"I'll show you, you just need to close your eyes," Calvin explained. Linda did, and almost instantly, Calvin grabbed her arm, holding tightly. Her stomach seemed to drop out of her gut as the ground pulled away from her feet, "they said that it was some kind of splicing serum. I accidentally got stabbed by the stuff."

"What animal?" Linda asked in a loud voice, trying to talk over the strong wind.

"Open your eyes," Calvin ordered. She wiped a few strands of hair out of her face and opened here eyes. She was looking down from a very high height. The view of the back of the school was obscured by clouds, but it was nearly indistinguishable from the rest of Queensland Park. She looked over at New Troy Island, guessing that they must have been level with the tallest towers. "Superman's DNA," he answered.

"Oh my God," Linda slowly said. Calvin moved her so that he could looker her in the eye.

"Lin, you're my best friend," he said as he looked at her, "and I am sorry I betrayed your trust. I wanted you to know I'm Superman."

"Cal, why are you telling me this?" Linda asked.

"The same reason you told me your secret," Calvin replied, "I trust you."

"Why haven't you told Mike?"

"Why should I?"

"So, you think that me being bi is something your brother needs to know, but you playing superhero isn't?" Linda screamed.

"Linda, I trust you with my secret," Calvin said as he began the decent, "if you think Mike needs to know, I can't stop you from telling."

"Cal, if you really cared about your brother enough to have no secrets between the two of you, you need to tell him, not me," Linda said. She and Calvin remained silent until they were back on solid ground. Once her feet touched the pavement, she looked at him, "Time to put your money where your mouth is, Superman."

* * *

"Calvin," his mother said as the boy walked in through the front door, "your home late." His mother was watering a plant in the living room portion of the downstairs when her son came in. "And you're all wet again." She observed.

"I know," Calvin said, "who the hell needs to water their lawn in September?"

"Need to keep up with the Jones," Susan answered, "by the way, you and Mike are on your own tonight. Dad had to stay late, again, and I have my book club. You guys can fend for yourself without me, right?"

I don't know," Calvin jokingly said as she began to leave, "I might have to resort to cannibalism instead of cooking."

"Don't get blood on the carpet." She said as she walked out of the door. Dad's working late again, that was a surprise. He sat down and flipped on the news.

"Investigator's say they have a lead as to what caused the fire at West Metropolis High School yesterday that hospitalized one student and caused damages to the locker rooms. They are not releasing the names at this point in time, but are looking for certain individuals of interest at this time."

Calvin bolted his head. The Splicers. Dad was working late at the lab they were going to hit. Calvin looked up as the ceiling disappeared. Mike was in the bed room. No way of changing in front of him without the explanation. He'd get around to it, but he needed to get to Dad now. Calvin picked up his cell-phone and punched in the number.

"Cal," Linda's voice replied from the other end, "What's up?"

"Listen," He said urgently into the receiver, "I need you to do me a favor…"

Two minutes after he hung up on Linda, Mike came down the stairs, talking on the phone. "To be honest, Lin," Mike said as he looked on the desk, "I don't remember if we had that season on DVD." He began rummaging through the items on the desk, not noticing Calvin walk up the stairs.

Cal opened the door to his room, and pulled the drawer that held the clothing box open. He stripped down to his boxers and pulled on the suit. After that, Calvin put on the clothes he had just been wearing, stashing the fingerless gloves in a pocket. He finished up by tying the red sneakers back up and putting the back in the drawer. He walked back down the stairs, finding his brother still looking on the desk.

"He Calvin," Mike looked up as his brother came down, "Linda wants to know if we have the fourth season of _Sentries of the Last Cosmos_?" He asked.

"No," Calvin said as he walked for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Out," Calvin said, "hopefully, I'll be back soon." He shut the door behind him and walked down the steps. Slipping around the side of the house, where he was sure he wouldn't get caught be seen by both Mike and the neighbors, Calvin pulled off his glasses and shirt, revealing the S shield. After getting rid of any of his civilian clothes, Calvin bent his knees ready to jump. With a great force, he rocketed off the lawn clearing the houses and beginning to turn. He flew off in the direction of the lab, almost in the blink of an eye to the people below.

* * *

"Louis gets up to the plate," the commentator's voice rang through the guard station, "and it's a swing and a miss." There was a knock at the door. The guard got up from his seat and walked to the entrance to his shack. No one outside. No cars waiting to get in. He opened the door and looked out.

"Anyone out here?" He asked shouted to the quiet street. He stepped out a little further to get better view of the street, not noticing any movement behind him. "Punk kids," the guard said as he turned back into shack.

"And it's along fly ball to centerfield…"

"Jeez…" the guard said as he walked towards the TV. As he approached, a large red thing dropped from the ceiling, "…US!" The guard yelled as he reached for his side arm and aimed at the scorpion like monster. The thing knocked the weapon out of the guard's hand with its tail. The guar moved towards the alarm, but he wasn't as quick as Arch's tail, which landed in the man's back and began to pump a toxin into the guy's circulatory system. The guard's eyes rolled back in his head as he fell to the ground.

"…And it's going, going gone. Monarch's take another home run tonight, bringing the score to…" Arch shut off the TV as he moved the comatose body out of his way. A large truck pulled up to the guard station, rolling down the windows to reveal Shark's ugly face.

"Special Delivery, sir," Shark joked.

* * *

Daniel sat with his back to the red room, going over a few notes on his computer. Luthor had called back wondering about flaws in the clone's programming. The man might have been around for 65 years without aging, but it he was still afraid of errors. Maybe because he knew first hand what an army of this magnitude could do. The doctor continued to type until he came to a line about the kill coding. The final button to undo a rogue army. A world wide broadcast of a frequency that would, based on the modified genetics, would cause a massive aneurism in the clones' brains. Checks and balances, Daniel told himself as he re-encrypted the fatal flaw from his boss. Daniel looked out the window at his creations. Was he really willing to go against the boss's will? As he looked down, something in the red room darted in between tanks.

Dr. Lark walked through the darkened halls towards the large holding room, stepping in quietly. "Who's in here?" he asked as he walked in-between the tanks. He cautiously moved towards the place where he spotted the figure, careful not to startle the person. When he approached the spot, he found no one was there. He turned around to explore the spaces between the tubes once more, only to see a device with an LED screen. Numbers seemed to be counting down, as if a digital clock in reverse; a bomb.

"Doctor," a woman's voice called out, startling the middle aged man. Daniel turned around to see a girl with tiger like markings behind him, "it hurts when I do this," She said, swinging her leg into a kick to the man's face. Doctor Lark fell to the ground. Stripes looked at the count down: Fifteen minutes to attach bombs to all of those tubes.

* * *

Shark opened the last box, revealing several of the timed bombs. The maker was a genius. Each of the bombs had a WIFI hook up to the other. With the first one armed, the next set would arm for the exact time remaining on the first, allowing for one singular explosion from all the bombs. Arch and Stripes raced towards the back of the truck. "Last set," Will informed them, "this should take care of all those tubes."

"But its Superman in each of them," Stripes protest as she grabbed her cluster of explosives, "how are these going to kill them?"

"He's as normal as the rest of us in that room," Arch retorted, "the lamps are emitting red sun radiation, which makes him powerless. These bombs going off will have the same effect on him as they would on the doctor you took out."

"We have five minutes," Shark informed him, "stop talking."

"Actually," a fourth voice interrupted, "you have none." The Splicers rushed to the opening of the truck and looked up.

"No way," Stripes softly spoke as she looked up to the source of the voice. In the sky was a kid, he couldn't be much older then the splicers on the ground, with brown hair. What caught the attention of the gathered gang members was the S shield on the boy's chest.

"It's some poser," Shark said, "remember all those guys who dressed up like that after the real one died? He's no different. He bleeds like the rest of us." With that, the fish man took one of the bombs and tapped on the screen. It reset and he tossed it towards the guy in the air as Stripes and Arch ran back into the building. The disc like device collided with Calvin and stuck to his abdomen. It beeped rapidly and then exploded.

Shark looked up to see the fire erupt and engulf the flying interloper. As the dust cleared, the kid was no where to be seen. A large grin, formed by the carnivorous teeth, appeared on his fishy face. "That hurt…," the voice called out from behind him. The grin quickly disappeared as Shark turned around to see an unhurt kid dress like Superman standing behind him. "…my feelings." The Superman said as he walked towards the splicer. Shark drew a gun and started to fire at the approaching person. As each laser blast bounced off the kid, Shark had a growing fear that this kid was the real deal.

Superman came closer, holding out his hand to block the shot. When he was in range, he wrestled the gun out of Will's webbed hand. Holding it at eye level with the freak, Calvin crushed the device, splitting it into two. "Now," he said as he lifted the splicer off the ground, "how do you stop the bombs?"

"You turn them off manually," Shark slowly said, hoping to drawl out time, "one by one." Calvin brought the creature closer to his own face and looked him in the eye. "Think your quick enough, wannabe?" Shark asked. Calvin tossed him to the side of the truck, and lifted off the ground. He flew at a quick speed into the open doors of the building, causing a strong wind which kicked up dust into the semi-conscious fish's face.

Calvin walked into the red room, and was shocked at what he saw. An army of clones of Superman started to make sense. If Shark was receiving his orders from someone in another company, they would certainly be competing with this. Everything Superman could do would now be a permanent, round the clock vigil. And loose ends, such as the splicers, could be tied up on orders from who ever was in control. Calvin raced to the first tube, and began to fiddle with the settings to disarm it. As he began to hit the buttons, his motions slowed back down to human levels. He ran to the next tube, at a top speed of an Olympic athlete.

"What's the matter, Superman?" Stripe's taunting voice echoed from behind him, "out of power?" In the reflection of the tube, Calvin saw the cat move quickly into a flying kick. It would have landed on his skull, if Calvin hadn't dodged. Instead, her clawed feet scratched his neck as Haley crashed into the tube. Her momentum sent her straight through the glass, which spilled the liquid on the floor with a shower of glass. Calvin ran through the maze of tubes, looking back to see if the tiger girl was following him. He noticed one of the times on the bombs: 1:55.

Haley got up and ran after the kid. Tracking his scent through the jungle of tubes was easy- he had such a distinguishing scent. It was familiar, someone from school. If she could get closer she could defiantly identify the kid…

WHAM! Another tube fell to the floor, crashing almost inches from her nose and pouring water onto her. She shook it off, but now the scent was gone. She was to wet to find it again. Haley did a 180, hoping to find who ever did it. She looked around, but the red light was distorted in the vials. She hung her head at the thought of some punk in his pajamas getting the better of her. A shadow began creeping in front of her over the wet cement. She did a quick turn around as everything moved in slow motion. Another large tube was falling right on top of her. Haley leapt out of the way as the glass crashed into the floor, shattering and sending a second wave of water over cement. Normally, her padded hands and feet meant she could nail a landing. But the water caused her to skid headlong into the base of another tube, knocking her out cold.

Calvin ran through the mess of water and broken glass, stepping lightly over Haley as he rushed back through the maze. Half way through, something grabbed him. Calvin felt his body lift off the ground and slam back into it. Nerves in his back screamed in pain as he was dragged by Arch down the pathway, and then, again, lifted off the ground. This time, the scorpion let go, sending Calvin flying up for a few seconds. Then, a powerful blow to his gut sent the new Superman flying into the glass window of his father's apartment. Arch smiled as he ran towards the wall and began to climb up towards the office.

Calvin pulled himself up off the splintered desk and looked back at the wall. There was a nice dent in it where he had been stopped. No way was he able to do that with out some of his powers working. In fact, with exception to a small corner of the room, there was no red light at all. The boy walked over to the ledge, his eyes red and ready to fire, and looked down. It was the best view of the room he had had. And from it, he could see his father, sprawled out on the floor, and Stripes coming to her senses. No sign of Arch anywhere.

"Where are…" Calvin thought out loud as the monster leapt up from the part of the wall that the Superman couldn't see. The teen of tomorrow fell back from the shock as his eyes misfired, striking a portion of the ceiling in the red room, which in turn, caused the filter lights to shut off. For the clones below, it made no difference- they were still without sunlight. For Calvin, who had been basking in it for close to 24 hours, it was a different story.

"So," Arch said as he held his tail up for a strike, "you're the kid from the locker room. You have really bad control over that power." Arch said as he picked up Calvin and tossed him into the wall at the far end of the building. "No one listens to me," Arch said as he threw a punch to Superman's jaw, "No one cares about Sean Townson because he's some low life punk." He threw another punch. His re-enforced exoskeleton was making it painful for Calvin, who still wasn't at full strength. "That serum was my chance to be listened to! To be cared about! I was going to take out Shark! I was going to be a hero! I was going to be cared about!" Sean said, landing a blow per statement, "and you had to mess it up. Well, now that you're under a red sun filter, I have no problem running you through, do I?"

With that, his tail made a quick strike towards the S Shield. Calvin watched as everything slowed down. He could see the trajectory. Calvin quickly moved his hands, and caught the bony end of the tail. His eyes met with Sean's, whose face was distorted with horror. "No," he whispered as Superman pulled on the tail, causing Arch's feet to fly out from under him. Calvin picked him up by the shirt neck, and held the scorpion man at eye level. "If you wanted to be a hero, why didn't you try to stop him?" Arch didn't answer as Calvin tossed him into the now dark red room, where he crashed into another container near Haley, who was massaging her head. He looked up at the nearest LED screen: 30 seconds. Sean got to his feet and rushed in the door's direction, picking up Haley as he ran.

Superman leapt into the air and landed by Daniel. There was no way for him to save both his father and the clones. The first Superman had had his life. To bring him back in any sense, let alone under Luthor's dime, would be a disgrace. Calvin picked up his the Doctor and lifted off of the ground, 10 seconds to spare. With a burst of speed, he blasted through the doors of the building. Flying five feet level with the ground, he passed the truck, which was only a few feet away and turned to see the building blow apart. The clones, every one of them, were dead. Superman eased off and laid his father on the ground. The man began to stir as the debris from the build caused the truck to swerve and tip over. The splicers inside looked out of the window to see the blue and red legs of Superman walking towards them. It grabbed something off the top of the hood, and lowered it into view of the occupants.

* * *

"Industrial Sabotage," Agent Ryder said as he walked past the guard shack, "is not my area of expertise, Commissioner. Why am I here?" He asked sternly.

"I think something up your alley was involved," The mustached man said as he walked past the orange cladded EMS workers removing the Doctor who had the unfortunate luck of being on the premise during the attack.

"What makes you say that?" The government agent asked as they rounded the corner.

"The cuffs around them looked a little suspicious of Meta-human."

"Cuffs?"

"Up there," The commissioner pointed his flashlight to the top of a flag post at the edge of the parking lot. Right under the flag, the three splicers were strapped to the pole by a bent metal bar. "That was the bumper on their truck," the commissioner explained as Ryder walked under the pole.

"Did you get the view from under it?" Ryder asked as he looked up.

"No, should I have?"

Ryder nodded as the officer walked next to the government agent. The man looked up at the bent metal, twisted distinctly into an S. "I'll be damned," the officer said, "it's like he's returned."

"Or something very close," Ryder noted. "Get the Jaws of Life! I want them down and ready for questioning now."

* * *

"You dropped your book club, for me?" Daniel asked as his wife walked into the hospital room. She smiled at his joke.

"Of course, its one of the few times I get to see you away from work," Susan replied as she took a seat by her husbands bed. He returned the smile, and weakly chuckled. "How ya feeling?"

"Lousy."

"The Doctors said you would be fine."

"The flesh is able," Dan said as he looked out the window at the high rises across the bay, "the mind is on melt down. Sue, you'll never guess who saved my life."

"I don't need to; the cops told me," She replied, "You had a bad bump on the head, and you mistook the guy's jacket for an S or some…"

"Sue, he flew me out of the building," The doctor interrupted, "and he didn't need to. He saw what I did in there. He knew I didn't deserve it. But he saved me either way. It's like Calvin said, he did what was right, not just for me but for the world. Kid's right, the man's a better hero then I am."

"Dan, you are his hero," Susan retorted, "sure, he talks about Superman, but anyone alive who can remember him does. But Superman didn't bath Calvin. Or buy him food, or play with him. Superman stopped Calvin from falling. That's the only time they met. But you were there his whole life. And that's rare in this day and age. Most parents don't stick together anymore. He's going to be a lucky kid. He's going to be out in the world doing great things, and he's always going to have you as an example of how to raise a family and be a good man."

"But…"

"You're his father, and you raised him well." Susan interrupted his protest. She bent down and kissed him on the forehead, "Want something from cafeteria?"

"What's good?"

"Nothing."

"I'll have nothing then."

* * *

"William Carlson," Ryder said as he shut the door to the interviewing room, "you look better with out that fin coming out of your back. And your breath smells better too."

"Who the hell are you?"

"Agent Ryder, Bureau of Meta-human Affairs. I'm just doing some work on a different case, and I need you to answer some questions." He sat down and look the boy in the eye. Ryder had to question the kid's motive to getting spliced. He wasn't half bad looking. The scorpion, on the other hand, was an exception, "What do you think about splicing Kryptonian DNA?"

"Kryptony- what?"

"Extinct race of humanoid aliens," Ryder explained, "their most famous member was Superman." When William didn't answer, Ryder added, "You're not in trouble for anything you say about it yet."

"It be cool if it was close to legal, but it ain't."

"You can drop the act, your buddy Sean confessed. But he didn't know the name of the guy in the bathroom." Ryder pulled out a sealed plastic bag with a pair of goggles in it. Each lenses had a perfect hole in the middle. "Goggles. Found at the scene. Prescription pair. Who ever they belong to must have had really bad eyes. Ring any bells?"

The kid formerly known as Shark thought for a moment. He looked down at the goggles. There was only one guy on the team who would need Prescripts. But no, it couldn't be. His face grew into a smile as he looked up. "Calvin Lark. That's your dog, I'm sure of it."

"I'm sorry," Ryder said as he looked at Will. In the brief instant they made eye contact, William could have sworn the man's eyes glowed bright red, "could you say that name one more time?"

"I don't know," Will stated in a dazed voice.

"Not even a hunch?"

"Nope."

"That's what your friend said. Thanks for the help." Ryder got up and walked out of the interview room. After closing the door, he pulled out his cell-phone and hit the number two on speed dial. The phone rang four times. On the fourth ring, the machine caught it.

"Leave a message." It coldly ordered.

"It's Jon," Ryder said as he waited for the elevator, "Your hunch…"

"Jon?" The cold voice answered.

"You shouldn't be up this late, you have a heart condition."

"Then why are you calling me?" The cold voice asked as Ryder entered the elevator.

"You were right," Ryder said as the small room made its descent, "Calvin Lark got the injection." A loud screech sounded in the background. "What was that?" Ryder asked.

"One of the bats. I'm starting a search on his record."

"One misdemeanor traffic ticket," Ryder said as he exited in the main lobby.

"Did you make contact already?"

"Not physically. When I was in the boy's mind, though, he practically rattled it off when I made my interrogation." Ryder paused, "Go to bed and search in the morning. You're not getting any younger, despite what the suppositious and cowardly think."

"You weren't around when the first Superman went rogue," The voice sternly protested, "and now a teenager has all that power. It's too dangerous."

"I am well aware of the forces we are dealing with," Ryder retorted, "and I assure you, right now it is the last thing that this kid wants. If we bring down the full weight of what we can do, he'll be just as scared as the people were sixty-five years ago. And he will fight." Ryder looked over at a group of gang members harassing a passerby, rolled his eyes, and sighed heavily into the speaker. "I've got to go," he said, "I'm on duty."

"No your not."

"You know we're always on duty." Jon said as he hung up on his friend. He put the device in his coat pocket and began to walk towards the gang members. They would never see him coming.

* * *

Calvin walked in the front door to the sound of a commercial on the TV. He looked in the couch to see Mike watching the screen with interest. As the commercial faded into another, the older brother sat down next to the younger one. "What's on?"

"D-Dad," Mike said brusquely, "his l-lab was b-bombed. He's the n-next story."

"Is mom with him?"

"Yeah," Mike answered, "the fun-ny thing is th-that Dad says he was s-saved by S-Superman."

"I wanted to talk to you about that," Calvin said as he turned to face his brother, "Lin said I should tell you." Calvin took a deep breath, "What I did today was wrong. It was not my right to tell you that she was bi. So instead, I'm going to tell you my own secret. The fire, at school yesterday, started because I got involved in a fight with the splicers," He looked over to see Mike with wide eyes, "There's more. They had a new serum; A splicing fluid that used the original Superman's DNA. I tried to stop them. In the struggle, I ended up getting injected. I accidentally caused the fire with the powers."

"So th-that was y-you who s-saved Dad?" Mike asked. Calvin nodded. "In that?" Mike said, pointing to the blue and purple sweater Calvin was wearing. He pulled up the sweater to reveal the S shielded shirt underneath. "Wicked. Were did you get that? It looks like the real deal."

"I know this sounds weird," Calvin said as he lowered the sweater again, "but it was in my drawers when I was going through them last night. There was a note, but I couldn't tell who gave it to me. It was just signed by 'S'. I don't know how, but I think it was the first one."

"You mean S-Superman? But he's b-been dead-d for a year be-before you got th-these p-powers."

"I have two theories about that," Calvin explained, "The first one I thought up when I came home from the lab. Dad was working on an army of Supermen clones. One, or all, of them might have retained the original's memories and somehow broke out."

"And the o-other?"

"That he's really out there. He's really alive somewhere. Somehow. I like that idea better."

"Y-you know," Mike said as the news came back on, "y-you're right."

"About what?"

"The s-speech on W-Wednesday," Mike answered, "you s-said that th-things about S-Superman seemed to r-random to be r-random. Like s-something was gui-iding them to h-happen."

"Behind me," the reporter began, "are the bombed out remains of Luthor Corps Aura Labs, which where destroyed in an act of corporate espionage only hours ago. What makes this story very unusual is that the victim, Dr. Daniel Lark, claims that it was Superman that saved him. No cameras where found functional on this sight, but police did find the fender of the perpetrators' truck, wrapping them around the flag poll in a design that is familiar to most Metropolites."

"You might be right," Calvin said as he watched the prerecorded video about the events of the evening. It might just be destiny after all.


	3. Trial by Fire

**Journal of a Superman**

By S.P. Bley

Trial by Fire

_Two Years Ago…_

"J'onn J'onz to Metrotower. Come in Metrotower." The Martian looked down into the view screen. Like the original members that had stayed on, even he had taken on a newer look- a black body suit now under the red x. He kept the blue cape, but now his head had a more distinctive point to it, much like his true alien form.

"This is Superman," Kal-el replied, "what's up?"

"I received a priority distress call from Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Test Facility. INES Level Three at this point, but it could blow up to five by the time we're done," The Martian informed, "I have sent Kai-Ro ahead, but he will need back up."

"Level Three," Superman thought to himself, "That's the breach of all safety instruments, but not of the reactor. Why don't you send Captain Atom?"

"Captain Atom is not back from his other mission yet and I cannot risk pulling him from that mission as well," J'onn informed the Kryptonian, "You and Kai-Ro are the only other members available who can take the likely radiation leak."

"Can you transmit rendezvous co-ordinates?" Superman asked.

"I am now," the Martian Manhunter said as the readout displayed the place where Superman was going to meet the Green Lantern. Radiation threats meant that there was no teleporting. "One more thing, Superman," J'onn added, "Since we don't have Captain Atom, you may need to fly the reactor into the space and destroy it up there. Clear a geosynchronous orbit if that is the case."

A few minutes later, Superman exited the top of the Metro tower and flew down the coast line, south towards the nuclear plant. Half way down, as he was veering close to Baltimore, a green light flew through the sky. Kai-Ro leveled off next to Superman. "This humble one begs your forgiveness," the monk said as flew beside the Man of Steel, "My delay was due to the teleporters."

"Let's focus on the mission at hand, son." The proceeded to the research facility in relative silence, Kai-Ro not sure what to say. The two landed at the entrance to the main building, meeting a technician. "Superman, JLU, we're responding to your…"

"I know who you are," the technician said as he pointed into the building, "reactor three has gone critical. We have a stage five breech. Unless you do something now, we're going to have another Chernobyl right in the middle of the most densely populated portion of the country. D.C., Baltimore, Philly, Gotham," the man started ticking off, finishing somberly with, "your home town will all be dead."

"You have nothing to worry about," Superman said as he looked up at the roof, "do you have people inside?"

"Just emergency personnel." The technician said.

"Kia-Ro, get them out. You have three minutes." Kal-el ordered. As the Green Lantern rushed to get the fire fighters off the roof, Superman raced into the reactor core. The monk held his ring out, and a bright light of green energy erupted from it, forming a giant vacuum cleaner, which began sucking the people inside the safety of the green bag.

Inside the core room, Superman began pulling metal from where ever he could get it safely and slammed it into the cracks. It wouldn't be enough to stop the deadly force if it went to the next stage, but it was at least enough to get radio contact established between him and the Green Lantern. As he welded the last crack shut with his heat vision, he tried to call Kai-Ro. "Superman to Green Lantern, I've eased off the radiation leak but this won't hold." He turned to look at the welds, which where already white hot, "Kai-Ro, I need to make a fast exit. Clear the roof immediately."

The green vacuum construct pulled the last person up, and turned into a giant bubble. The monk floated the construct to the ground, opening the bubble to let the people off. One of the men, cladded in an anti-radiation suit, looked up at the Green Lantern. "Tom's still up there," He said, pointing to the roof.

"Superman," the GL fired off his comm. link, "there are people on the roof. You are no go for clearance."

Inside the core, the cracks where already starting to release small amounts of radiation. Green Lantern's comm. line came back garbled, but the man of steal could only hear "Go." Superman grabbed the reactor, and pried it loose from the floor. Holding it in his arms like a giant egg, he lifted off the ground, and blasted a hole through the roof with his heat vision as he flew up.

Both heroes reached the roof at the same time. Both saw it clear as day. Kai-Ro forgoing theatrics and putting a bubble around the last fire fighter on the roof; Superman was carrying the reactor out of the station into space. As he did, the welds began to bubble. One over his hand popped, spreading hot, molten, radioactive metal onto the Titan of Tomorrow's hand. The pain caused the reactor to slip slightly, as a get of hot plasma erupted from the side facing the Green Lantern and the man. It struck the bubble with a loud crack, knocking the Green Lantern monk back. The bubble dissipated and the beam continued as it hit Tom. In the blink of an eye, Superman caught the hole with his scalded hand and flew out of the atmosphere as the man let out a painful scream. Up above, a bright light signaled the detonation of the materials. The crowd below looked on aghast, as Kai-Ro got to his feet, looking at the smoking body. Kal-el returned, covered in soot, eyes wide with horror.

* * *

_Present Day…_

"Where is that coming from?" Luthor yelled as he got up from his desk, knocking several items to the floor. Luthor Tower was still the tallest building on New Troy, and Luthor still sat at the top office like a king over his domain. But the incessant tapping had driven the man to near sanity as the late autumn sun was setting over the towers. He turned to the dark haired woman in the room. "Mercy, Mary, Megan, who ever the hell you are…

"Abigail, sir," The woman sternly corrected.

"…where is that noise coming from?" Luthor shouted, "It's giving me a headache."

"Gee, I was always told about how patient you were," She said sarcastically, "how you never sweat the small stuff." She looked up at Luthor, whose back was against the window. Behind him, Abigail saw the source of the noise. A year with out it was enough to make anyone insane when it returned, she imagined. "Actually, your right, it isn't something small. Take a look behind you."

Luthor turned around to see what she saw: A boy, in his late teens, hovering out his window; out his window some 180 feet in the air. The colors where enough to bring back so much hatred he had felt the first time he met the original. "So, the rumors are true," Luthor said as he opened the window, "Superman is back."

"If you had your way," Calvin said in a much deeper voice as he entered the room, "it would be Supermen."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"The clones Luthor," Superman firmly said, "I saw what you were up to at Aura."

"The real Superman would have played around for a little longer," Lex taunted.

"I've been tapping on your window for fifteen minutes," The Teen retorted, "I'm not patient when I wait."

"That is something the two of you have in common, isn't it? Either way, I know that this is a questionable legality…"

"…It's illegal."

"…And I question that." Luthor mocked, "But you have the burden of proof. And to be quite frank, I think that the majority of this town is less likely to believe in you then in Bigfoot or UFOs," Superman raised an eyebrow, "you know what I mean." Luthor said.

"Let me just make one thing clear," Calvin said, "If I ever found out that you did something like that again, I'm coming for you."

"Is that a threat?"

"Do you feel threatened?"

"I've had a chunk of Kryptonite in this room since the day I got back just in case you capes returned," Lex informed his guest, "do you feel threatened?"

Calvin glared as he walked back at to the window. He turned his back away from the CEO and looked him right in the eye. "I'm watching you." He said as he fell back first out of the window. Five stories down, the boy yawed into a straight flight, and flew away from the building with a small thud of a sonic boom.

"He's got some grace that the first one lacked, I'll give him that much." Lex said as he watched the kid leave.

"Can I get you anything?" Abigail asked.

"Champagne and chunk of Kryptonite off of E-bay," The bald man said, "In both cases, money is not an option. Tonight, Abigail, I celebrate." He finished with a sinister smile.

* * *

"Somet'in' for ya, sweety?" the waitress asked the man who had just sat down in her section. He was alone, an uncommon thing to go on for too long in this town. Normally it was the elderly coming in after church or one of the farmers treating his family. It was rare to get someone this late. And this alone.

"Coffee," The man said, not looking at the menu, "black." He looked up to see the electric blue simulated anchors on the dinner's Vid Screen. The background logo caught his eye. "Can you turn that up?" He asked.

"Hon, don' give me a reason to hate the news more. It's to depressing as is." The woman said as the sound increased. She took a good long look at the logo behind the man. "Like they need to tell us Superman's dead again. HA."

"…but now, almost a year after his death, a new Superman seems to be protecting the streets of Metropolis yet again." The anchor stated enthusiastically.

"I saw him swoop out of the sky over there," the boy pointed off camera, "and then he pulled us out of the car and carried us to the ground. Then he flew off that way. Like the stories mom told me."

"Yes," the announcer commented, "there are people all over the city of Metropolis saying that tonight. Six year old Kevin Murphy, and his mother, where in their car when it cut out mid-air. A death for most people, they are here to tell their story because of, what they and many others claim, is a new Superman. Superman, or some one with his sense of fashion, has been seen flying all over Metropolis for the past week, generating a slew of controversy."

"Well," an old woman said into the camera, "I think it's sweet that this guy is honoring the memory of Superman. Lord knows, this city has gotten pretty bad with out him."

"This is just some publicity stunt," another man yelled into the camera, "he's dead. His cousin has been missing for years. There is no one else like him out there."

"Skepticism is often drawn from the lack of hard evidence showing that Superman did indeed do anything," The announcer explained, "any alleged pictures of the new guy are poor in quality. The victims often do not have a camera, and there has yet to be a large event for him to show up at. But there are many people, including Kevin Murphy, who do believe it is real."

"I think he's a pretty cool guy. I like him."

"For WNN news, I'm Patrick Mattson."

The man looked down at the glass of water he was holding. It was starting to boil. He moved his hands away and looked back at the kitchen.

"Okay, hon, cup of coffee, black." The woman announced into the dinning room. She walked into the room to find it empty yet again. "It's like bein' back in Gotham." She said to herself as she walked to the table and picked up a Cred card. "At least he's a better tipper."

* * *

"Holly, want to go to homecoming with me?" Calvin asked in the halls. Holly was a girl on the swim team who Calvin often joked around with during meets. She was somewhat shorter then he was and had blonde hair which she kept short. And right now, she was his last resort.

"Not going, Cal," She answered.

"Come on," Calvin said, half pleading half joking, "You're the last person who doesn't have a date and has nothing wrong them. If you don't go with me, I'll have to dance with some fat chick. I don't want to do that."

"Believe you and me, neither do I," she said, pushing him aside, "which is why I'm not going." She leaned in close to whisper, "They hurt my back when I'm on top."

"Seriously," Calvin asked as he followed Holly down the hall, "what's wrong with going with me?"

"You're a guy. 'Nuff said."

"How about a mutual pity date then?" Calvin asked, "You feel sorry for me because I can't get a date, and I feel sorry for you because you hate 42."

"42?"

"Life, The Universe, and Everything."

"Nice try," Holly said with a smug smile on her face, "but you stole that from your brother."

"How'd you find out about…"

"Girl's Bathroom. It was the web before the web." She smiled as she walked into the classroom. Calvin feigned banging his head against the nearest locker.

"I'd be careful about doing that," Linda said as she approached him. Calvin only gave her a don't-make-this-worse stare, "Might hurt your brain. So, how'd it go?"

"She's staying home."

"Called that one," Linda said under her breath.

"How did you know?"

"Girl's Bathroom. It was the web be…"

"…don't finish that."

"So," Linda began, changing the tone of voice to match the change of topic, "how did Lex Luthor take it? I would have listened over that headset I gave you, but the 'rents called dinner, and well, eat or save the world," she held her hands out as if each arm was a scale, "it's a tough call."

"He was amused," Calvin stated in a curious voice, "like he didn't care."

"I'm surprised he didn't pull out the kryptonite right then and there," Linda commented, "Considering the bad blood between him and you predecessor."

"Or Luthor has adopted a let-bygones-be-bygones philosophy."

"As if. He's a CEO. He steppes on toes for a living." Linda cynically noted. Once again, her voice changed tones as she changed subject matter. "What about Ashley?"

"What?"

"For home coming. Ask Ashley Powton."

"Sure," Calvin said quickly. "Who is she?"

"Honestly, have you been under a rock all week?" Linda asked, "She's the new girl. We have the same history class. I can ask her for you."

"Is she good looking?"

"I think so," Linda smiled, "but then again, I think your brother is good looking. Who am I to judge?"

"Just ask her," Calvin said as he slipped into the class room and sat at his desk.

"He can bend steel, but talking to a girl…" Linda said under her breath, fully aware that Calvin could hear her.

* * *

"You are researching a fashion designer from the turn of the century?" Robert asked as he looked over Michael Lark's shoulder, at the article he was reading.

"Not interested in her dresses," Mike said, not breaking his gaze from the words, "more like her friends."

"Lark, you are such a fanboy."

"Huh?"

"After your article about the 'New Superman'," Robert said, making quotation marks with his fingers, "it's all I can expect you to look at. So far, we have no way of knowing."

"This is more of a follow up," Mike assured the editor, "just like community reaction and all that stuff."

"Mikey, Mikey, Mikey, don't ruin any career like Lois Lane did," Robert instructed. "She only wrote about Superman and look where that got her."

"Alright, Bob," Mike said, closing out of the window, "I'll work on another story."

"Good," Robert said as he walked away, "and don't call me Bob."

"Don't call me Mikey," Michael said, as the editor disappeared. When he was sure that guy was gone, Mike brought up the window and continued reading.

* * *

A long range monorail pulled into New Troy's central station, as the man stepped out. He picked up his baggage, and walked hastily out of the building. The blonde haired man dodged in and out of the crowd, heading to a desolate warehouse district, still left abandoned after all these years.

In this part of town, he was alone. He needed to vent, needed to let off steam. He needed to remind himself why he was here in the first place. He dropped his sole brief case and opened it up. He pulled out a picture of his younger self with a small girl. She had curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Beauty like that was hard to come by, and she was given a beautiful name because of it: Melanie. The man shed a tear as he dropped the picture back into the brief case and pulled out a white trench coat, wrapping it around his red shirt and blue jeans. "You deserve your justice." The man said to the picture, "you might not understand why I did these things, but in time, you will. You and I, Melanie, we were robbed. Robbed of a chance at a normal life."

He held his hands up perpendicular to his body. From them, a small bolt of reddish orange light erupted. Smoke formed as the man moved his arms in a pattern around the room. When he finished, he looked at his art work. An S shield, very much like that of the legendary hero, was smoldering in the wall of the warehouse. "I intend to correct what is right. I lost that chance a year ago. I was happy. He was gone. But now his own son has returned and become a threat to this world again. I was a victim of his failure. Given a life worse then death. And you inadvertently became a victim. The sins of the father undebted shall be collected from the son. My sins have been paid by this life a hundred fold. Now," he raised a hand as a much larger, much more powerful light, erupted from his hand, striking the carved wall with such a heat, that it exploded almost instantly, "It is my turn to collect."

* * *

"Where are you?" Linda asked into a cell-phone ear piece

"Over Centennial Park," Calvin's voice came back. She looked out her apartment window in the direction of New Troy's famed park.

"Where?"

"See the big orange cloud over the city?"

"Yeah," Linda said as she looked out towards the condensed water vapor. The reflected colors dispelled her otherwise dark room with golden light, like the nimbus of gods, "It's a nice one."

"You should see it up close."

"I'm jealous," She stated as she tapped the keys on the computer, "hearing anything bad going down?"

"It's quiet." Calvin reported as he leveled out in front of the cloud, "It's like every super-villain upped and left after his death. And then the police seem to have gotten crime down by themselves. So…."

"Come again?"

"Something's coming up from south docks. And fast." The Teen of Steel reported.

"Hover car?"

"Too fast."

"Helicopter?"

"Too slow. It looks like a human."

"A human? Flying like you?" Linda said, taking in the words.

"No, he's propelling himself by some kind of energy." Calvin reported. "And it's hot. Massive signature in the infa…" The report cut out.

"Superman?" Linda said, checking her phone to make sure that it didn't drop Calvin's call. It didn't.

"…Under Fire…" the voice came responded in a broken and static sound, "…hurt… me." A loud sound like thunder roared into the ear piece as the sound cut out again…

* * *

Calvin reported what he was seeing in the infa-red spectrum, when the heat signature spiked. Bringing himself back to normal vision, Calvin saw a jet of reddish orange light heading straight for him. The beam collided and threw him up away from the man as a screaming static erupted in his ear piece. He felt a slight pain from the heat as he leveled off. "I'm under fire," he radioed back, albeit the heavy static, "This guy was able to hurt me." But for all intensive purposes, the line was dead.

The man, surrounded by an aura of the red orange light, flew within striking range of the new Superman and delivered a blow, sending Calvin up higher yet again. Once more, the Teen of Steel leveled off and re-collected himself. He then flew straight for the man and struck with a powerful blow. The man didn't lose much composure and fired another volley. Cal caught the man's fist in his palm. "What do you want?" He asked in his Superman voice, strained under the heat the guy was putting off.

"Some say revenge is a dish best served cold," the man said as the light around his hand intensified. It was becoming hard for Superman to endure, and finally, the intensity of the flash caused him to let go of the man's fist and fly under the direction of the wave of plasma, "But from what I've tasted of desire, I hold with those who favor fire."

"Speak English," Calvin said as he did a back flip to slow himself down.

"I want your death, boy," the man said as he rocketed towards Superman. The seventeen year old did a 180 and launched himself into the cloud he had been flying around. Inside was a world of grey. Despite the beautiful hues outside, the light did not penetrate much of the interior. Tiny ice particles started to collect all over Calvin's body as he raced through the water vapor. He sped up, making sure that the man that was following him was in the distance. When the red light faded, Superman made a rapid incline, flying almost perpendicular to his original course.

He emerged out of the cloud and eased off, flying towards earth on the west side cloud. Now it was time for him to display some ingenuity. The layers of the cloud seemed to disappear as Calvin looked at them with his x-ray vision. First the orange white outside, then the various shades of grey, until he was looking at the back of his assailant, confused by the sudden disappearance of his quarry. With a thunder like roar, Superman flew into the cloud straight to the man's back. The attacker turned to see the blue red streak break the grey surroundings, tossing a powerful punch to he man's gut. As the man flew downwards following the force, a bright red orange light erupted from his hands towards the superhero.

Calvin dodged the blast, return fire with a wave of heat vision. "Give it up, sunshine," the teen yelled through the fog surrounding the two of them, "I'm willing to bet that you can't see me." No answer was heard. Superman raced off in the direction of the falling body, fearing the worse. When his trajectory finally emerged from the cloud bank, Calvin scanned the skies and the earth below.

"Superman, you there?" The radio piece echoed with Linda's voice in his ears. The static had since dropped off now that the attack was over.

"What happened?"

"Some dude flew…"

"There is someone other than you who can fly?"

"Yeah. Anyway, he flew up here. Just randomly attacked me. I confused him in a cloud, but I don't think I scarred him off."

"You better get scarred off, before he gets you in round two." Linda barked, Calvin agreed, and turned towards Queensland Park, after doing one more, quick sweep to make sure that there was no evidence that the guy was still there.

* * *

Stepping out of the monorail to St. Martin's Island was like walking back in time for Mike. The upscale part of the city was decidedly retro and might have had the lowest apartments of the whole of Metropolis. A good thing compared to the hundred plus stories all over the huge city. The blonde haired boy walked down the street blocks of the island, sporadically pulling out a piece of paper to check the address he was looking for. He finally stopped at an old house. One that looked like it had not been touched by the reconstruction over the past seventy years. One that looked like it was built almost two centuries ago.

Mike checked the address once more, and slipped through the wrought iron gates, walking towards the front door. He pounded on it, sending a loud echo through the house. A bark from a dog followed. The creature sounded huge, and Mike backed away.

CLICK! The door slid open enough to reveal the gaunt features of the elderly woman opened.

"Ms. Lang?" Mike asked.

"Who are you?" The woman asked, "And before you answer, If you are trying to save my soul, I should remind you that I haven't gotten around to hanging my 'beware of dog' sign yet."

"I'm not h-here to s-sell anything," Mike said, backing slightly away from the door. "I just h-have a pr-problem."

"Kid, I'm a fashion designer," the elderly Lana said, "not a speech therapist."

"No, I-I was l-listening to your sp-speech last week," Mike said, "m-my br-brother was on before-ore you. You s-said you where the first superman's friend. I'm fr-friends with the new one."

The door shut. Mike knew it was hopeless, and turned to walk away. He should have pegged the woman as one of the people who was upset by Calvin taking up the moniker of such an Icon. As he walked off the porch of the old house, the door once again creaked behind him. The blonde boy turned to see Lana Lang, and a large St. Bernard on the threshold. "There's more then that, isn't there son?" She asked.

Mike turned back and walked into the room. Like the outside, the inside of the house was very retro. In front of a large fireplace sat a sofa and chair with no Vid screen. All along the walls, pictures of many girls hung, all of them in poses that seemed to show off their various attires. Mike walked towards the seats in the room as the St. Bernard tapped his head against the boy's hand. He pulled his arm away from the dog in shock. "I've never known a boy to be afraid of a dog. Brutus doesn't bite."

"Its n-name is Brutus," Mike said as he stared down the dog, "how c-could he not b-bite."

"Names can often be misleading," Lana said as she walked into the room and took a seat in the arm chair, "which is why I have my doubts about your friend. Superman."

"He just told me," Mike confided, "I'm really kind of nervous about knowing. L-Like if I slip up and tell. It c-could cause a lot m-more pain. It's a big b-burden he just heaved on me w-without asking."

"We rarely are asked if we want to do something important," the old lady said as Brutus walked to her feet and put his head on her lap, "and if we are, it isn't."

"I could have had a n-nice life w-without knowing."

"Ignorance isn't bliss. It's a poor substitute. When I first met the original Superman, I knew something was special about him. It was hard, because he deserved to be seen as special. But for a lot of people his achievements needed to be kept in the dark. I know who he really was, but telling met ruining that persons' life."

"That's why I'd rather not know. I don't want to hurt him."

"Do you think that he wants to hurt you?"

"No."

"Is he normally honest and open with you?"

"Yes."

"If he lied to you, would you be hurt?"

"Yes."

"I will say this about the first Superman, he kept his eyes on the prize. He knew what he wanted in life when he wasn't in the cape. But his constant secret keeping really alienated the people that he cared about. When she was finally told, or rather, found out, she was devastated. They never spoke afterwards…" Lana trailed off as she scratched the dog behind his ears. "Although if you want a piece of advice, don't let anyone know that you know until after his enemies can do no worse."

"Thanks." Mike said as he got up for the door. All that way, and he didn't have anymore closure then when he left.

"Are you worried about him, or yourself?" Lana asked before the blonde boy could get away.

"Both." Mike said as he sat down, "he's getting himself into danger. He'd like to think of himself as invincible, but he could get killed, or kill someone."

"There have been times where the first Superman inspired that same fear," the woman said as she got up and walked towards fire place, "there isn't much you can do about the first one. Hardly much he can do about it. But there is something you can do to prevent him from hurting others." She opened the box, revealing a green crystal inside. "I've had this for a long time. Since the first one went rogue many years ago that one time. I keep trying to justify having it around, telling myself that it is for something that he might do, but its more for those things that I could never imagine him doing."

"Kryptonite?" Mike questioned the contents of the box.

"No one said caring for someone was easy. And this isn't a burden you can choose." Lana said as she closed the box and held it out for Mike to take.

"Yes it is." Mike said, defiantly, "You're asking me to kill my best friend. I'm not going to." He opened the door and ran out the lawn, slipping once again through the gates as the old lady looked on.

* * *

"So he has a thing for revenge," Linda ticked off on her hands, "and radiation. So I figured…"

"What makes you think its radiation?" Calvin asked, as his brother walked into the room.

"When he attacked, your end of our phone conversation went dead." Linda said

"Cal was attacked?" Mike interrupted, "By who?"

"Some nut job who could hold his own against me."

"You know your not all powerful, Cal." Mike reminded

"Yeah, but not many people can hurt me."

"But some can."

"Mike," Linda yelled over the boys, "is something wrong?"

"No," Mike said after a long pause, "No, so what did this guy do?"

"Said he was getting revenge. Threw fire balls…"

"…Radiation heat," Linda corrected.

"…Radiation heat balls," Calvin corrected himself, "that from this point on will be called fire balls for sake of brevity. And then he flew away when I started to really come at him."

"So, I ran a search with the words 'Superman' and 'Radiation'."

"And you got billions of hits, most dealing with fanboys talking about a villain or Kryptonite?" Calvin asked sarcastically, not noticing Mike cringing slightly.

"Actually, JLU publishes reports on all closed cases on their site. There are a few baddies with radiation powers: Atomic Skull, but he died in the Near Apocalypse, Kryptonite, access is restricted, but it can be obtained. However it wouldn't have affected you like that did."

"So, we're at a dead end."

"Not quite. Remember those red lights in your dad's lab?" Linda asked.

"Yeah."

"Red sun filters. Superman's home world was under a red sun, which is why Kryptonians aren't alive at all. They only get their powers under a yellow sun hotter."

"Point being?" Mike asked.

"I did a search on red sun users who fought Superman. Three hits. Two were deceased, and one never exchanged blows, but blames Superman." She said as she showed Calvin a picture.

"That's him," Calvin acknowledged, recognizing the blonde hair.

"Thomas Buck, AKA Rad," Linda began to explain, "who only fought with the Green Lantern. Buck worked at a nuclear Plant down the bay a little. He blamed Superman and Green Lantern for the accident that gave him his powers."

"So he doesn't like being a freak?" Mike asked

"He may also feel cheated out of his revenge," Calvin added, "with his M.O., he definitely didn't kill Superman. But I bet he wanted to."

The group continued to talk about the Thomas Buck for some time before Linda called it a night and left. Calvin and Mike both went to bed sometime after. While the brown haired boy got some rest, the younger did not. He stared out his bedside window, each time he closed his eyes, he would see the green light. Calvin was starting to show signs of cockiness.

* * *

"Live from Television Hill," the TV announcer said as the female anchor sat down, "this is good morning Metropolis, with your hosts Warren Derek and Rebecca Summerson."

"Good morning," Rebecca began, looking into the camera, "we begin to day with word from Kasnia that Prince Andre will be making a visit to Metropolis later this month to be fitted for suits for his December wedding to North Kasnian Baroness Rogaritta. The marriage is likely to end the years of bloodshed in the European nation. Andre will meet briefly with American diplomats to address…"

"…accusations that he is supplying money to anti-American terrorist groups." The security guard watched the delay and the front door of the polished lobby of the building. He flipped through the crosswords as a man walked through the double doors. The guard only noted it as odd, considering how early it was for tourists enter the building.

"Where is Rebecca Summerson?" The blonde haired man asked.

"Sorry, buddy, she's on the air," the guard said as he looked down at the paper. Beside it was a small Geiger counter. It was mostly a paper weight, given to detect the unlikely radioactive threat. The needle had spiked. "Sir, are you feeling hot today?" the guard asked.

"Where is the studio?" The blonde haired man asked.

"Not a word out of me, until you explain this," the guard said as he raised the Geiger counter to the visitor. The needle jumped and a loud cracking echoed from the box.

Thomas held his hands over the guard, as a massive blast of red orange light filled the room. When the light faded, the nuclear man walked away from the smoldering remains of the front desk. "Glad that you understand." He said as he walked into the hall.

"…And that's the weather for today," the meteorologist said as the camera lights for the anchor desk flicked on, "thank you, Bill. When we return…"

BOOM! The walls of the studio exploded inward as the production crew hit the ground. Thomas walked into the studio and held his hands at shoulder level with the room. "Alright, everyone, I want you all to move to the far end of the room," He ordered as the crowd of people looked up towards him, "Anyone who doesn't gets fried." He fired a blast of energy at one of the cameras, which exploded, sending the feed into static.

* * *

Calvin awoke quickly to the ringing of a cell phone. He fumbled around for it and hit the end button, believing it to be nothing more than the first alarm of the morning. He put the phone back on the desk and shut his eyes for five more minutes of sleep's sweet release. Five more minutes came fast, and Calvin grabbed the phone to check the time. Instead, he had a number from an unknown person. "Hello?" He groggily spoke into the phone receiver.

"Calvin Lark?" A familiar man's voice replied.

"Who is this?"

"Agent Ryder, Bureau of…

"Why the hell are you calling me at," Calvin looked at his watch, "five thirty in the morning?"

"Have you checked the web news cast?"

"I was dreaming!"

"CHECK IT!" Ryder's voice echoed in the boys head as he bolted up from the bed. Calvin looked around. It had been a dream. Ryder wasn't real. The phone's alarm still had an hour on it. Half tempted to go back to sleep and forget about the dream, the brown haired boy got up, pushing the covers off his boxer and muscle shirt. He walked over to the desk and booted up the computer, waiting for it to come on. When all the awful whirling was over, Calvin opened up the first Net news he could fine. The shot was of a building in New Troy that was surrounded by police.

"For those of you just joining us," the announcer calmly stated, "channel six's _Good Morning Metropolis _crew has been taken hostage by what police describe as a meta-human. The condition of the hostages is reportedly fine, but the assailant has already made his demands and has promised that if they are not met, people will die."

"Sam," the off screen anchor began, "what is he demanding?"

"Early reports suggest that he was able to get one demand across the airwaves before the station was shut down by the FCC. He said he would let the hostages go if Superman meets him. There is no word on any demands past that, but this seems like the ultimate crucible for those that believe that there is a new Superman in Metropolis…"

Calvin flicked off the TV and pulled his suit out of the hiding spot. As he pulled the pants up, his brother stirred. "Where are you going?" Mike asked as he spotted his brother getting dressed in the outfit.

"Our nut job is at the news station." Calvin informed as he turned the web cast back on. "He wants me." Calvin walked towards the window and then looked back at the room. He then walked to the desk and picked up his glasses, opened a drawer, and dropped them in. "Tell the 'rents I left for school early." He opened the larger of the two windows in the room, and lifted out for it. Turning over the neighborhoods street, he flew east towards the rising sun and the rising threat.

* * *

"Two minutes," the camera man said to the reporter in helicopter. The man smiled. The biggest story since Superman's death, and the rival news station wasn't able to cover it. It was journalist's dream. Suddenly, the aircraft began to move upwards, away from the building

"What are you doing?" the anchor asked the pilot, as the helicopter flew skywards.

"Something's on radar" The man at the controls answered, "its fast. I'm not looking to get hit by it."

"Camera down there, now," the now wide eyed journalist roared at the camera man, pointing towards direction of the radar blip, "Interrupt the feed. If we break it first, they'll be a big pay off."

The cameraman scanned the city line, until he saw what the big deal was. "Got him. I'm going to break in."

"We now go live to Walt, our eye in the sky, with some breaking news from the Channel 6 hostage situation. Walt?"

"Walt here," the reporter announced as he watched the picture of the young man in a red and blue outfit with the distinctive S shield, flying down the streets towards the police officers, "No longer a myth, the New Superman has just arrived." He triumphantly finished.

Calvin flew underneath the helicopter and over the police barricades. The people below pointed up and murmured about the flying boy as Superman used his x-ray vision to figure out where the hostages where being held. As the walls of the building disappeared, Calvin watched as the people came to view, huddled under the glass window of the eighteenth story. Like a rocket, the Teen of Tomorrow burst through the glass as a small group of cheers erupted from the street level. As the kid landed he looked at Thomas Buck. "Let them go, Tom," He ordered, in his Superman voice.

"Very well, Superman." Rad said as he stepped away from the hole in the wall, "I just want you." The crowd began to get up and quietly walked out of the room. Neither titan noticed one of the camera men grab a camera as he exited.

"Why?" Calvin asked, "I'm not the real Superman. I'm not his son, cousin, nephew, whatever. I don't even know the man."

"Superman, we preach a message of 'eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind' but no one lives it," Tom began. "The courts, the papers, the public, they all give what is deserved to institutions that they represent. You could have called your self something else and I would not have thought about hurting you. But you chose to be the next Superman. Your hero worship is why you will die."

Rad's fists glowed red as he fired a blast of light at Calvin, sending him through the wall behind him, wrecking an interview show's audience bleachers. Rad lifted off the ground and flew into the hole as the boy stood up in wrecked seats. Tom tossed a punch, which Superman ducked and countered with a strong uppercut that sent the radiation man into the ceiling, wrecking a cooking show's set. Calvin rushed up to throw another punch, only to be met with kick to the face as he emerged from the hole between the two levels. The boy doubled over and rebounded off a set of ovens, destroying today's pre-made product as he grabbed the man around the midsection and slammed the guy threw a wall and out over the gathered crowed, which gasped as the debris fell over some of the responding officers.

_Idiot, _Calvin thought as he let go of Rad and rushed down to the ground level to stop the large concrete chunk before it hit. "Give me some room," He yelled at the officers as he lowered the slab onto the pavement. As the last part was dropped, Calvin felt a pain to his gut that caused him to fly upwards. The crowd gasped as Rad threw a second punch to Superman's gut, sending him flying through the ground level and into the lobby, where he crashed into a polished rock column, breaking it. Rad flew in with another punch, which Calvin caught in his bare hand. Using Tom's momentum against him, Superman tossed into a wall and rushed over to grab the blonde haired mans shirt collar. "What Superman, the real Superman, did was an accident. He didn't want this to happen, and I'm sure he feels sorry for it."

Rad's whole body glowed red hot as a large radial blast blew Calvin away from the man and into a second column. "It isn't about the accident," Tom said as he walked towards the hero, still lying in the debris, "I could have lived a happy life with or without the accident. But after I awoke, I went home, to my wife and my daughter. I got checked, and nothing was wrong with me. I thought I was normal. But about a year later, my daughter was sick." He picked up the boy and tossed him across the room, "she had developed Leukemia. All the findings concluded that I was the one responsible." He picked up Calvin again and held the kid at eye level, "I can't hold my daughter. I can't kiss her good night. She sleeps in a quarantined room in a hospital because the chemo killed her immune system. Superman took my daughter away from me. And for the record, those people out there think that you are the real Superman. So, if the name fits." He tossed Calvin threw the lobby's revolving glass door and out into the plaza where the gathered crowd of cops, reporters, and bystanders watched in horror. Calvin looked up to see the final seconds of the lobby fight replayed on a large screen on the building. Someone had snuck in to film their fight.

Several police officers walked around the barriers and in-between Calvin and the building, gun pointed towards the emerging threat. As Tom came out, his hands began to glow as the officers held out the weapons. As loud bangs began to echo, the glowing intensified as Superman watched the bullets melt in the heat generated by the menace.

"Stand back," Tom ordered as the gun fire stopped, "and I will spare you. I only want Superman. He is incompetent. He won't help, he'll only hurt."

The offers held their guns and looked at their superior as Calvin returned to his feet. "I'll take my chances with the kid. FIRE!" Another round of bullets flew, meeting the same fate as the first. Rad's hands once again glowed red as he aimed his fist at the officers. Before he could fire, Calvin leapt over the police line, and grabbed Rad in a hold. His feet pushed down on the street, cracking it slightly as he pushed off the ground. If he could clear the building…

But Rad blasted him halfway up, breaking Calvin's grip. Superman put his arms and legs together and rapidly ascended into the early morning sky. He looked back as a red streak followed him. He dodged it, weaving so as to not get hit. Below him, the city began to fade. Buildings and streets disappeared as clouds broke into pure blue sky. Calvin turned his head to see how well his plan was working. He saw the radioactive man began to loose speed, his blasts getting weaker and less accurate. The boy continued his rise, as the man began to teeter and then loose altitude. Superman's plan had worked. Rad would follow him to the ends of the earth, or in this case, the top of the earth. The Teen of Tomorrow turned around, and dove after the man that had passed out. The wind lashed his hair as Calvin grabbed the enemy and took control of their descent, slowing for a smooth landing as the city came back into view. Calvin leveled his feet out as he landed back in front of the studio. An officer rushed over and clasped Rad's arms in a reinforced cuff that allowed no use of the hands at all.

"Genetic Disenabler," the cop said as Calvin placed the unconscious man on his feet, "ceases function to any extra-human proteins with in his body. Stops his powers until we can hold him." The man explained as he looked up at Superman. "This crazy guy was right about one thing," The officer said as he walked the stirring Tom to the SWAT truck, "you are the real Superman."

"Thanks," Calvin said meekly.

"Seriously, kid, this could have been a lot worse without you," the cop said.

As the press moved in to try and get an interview, Calvin lifted off the ground, and flew back the way towards Queensland Park. He still had to go to school, despite being big story downtown.

* * *

"Sure you want to do this?" Linda's voice echoed through the ear piece as the boy flew above the streets of New Troy later that afternoon, "You know how skittish you get around terminally ill."

"Yeah," Calvin answered, "I need to do it; to feel good about today."

"Metro-General," Linda's voice stated.

"See you on the other side," Calvin said as he landed in front of a large hospital. He caught stares from people as he entered the lobby. It wasn't everyday that Superman walked into a hospital like a normal person. People where whispering and pointing as he walked up to the nurse at the front desk.

"May I- May I h-help you, Superman?" The middle aged nurse stammered, like a school girl.

"I'm here to see Melanie Buck." The Superman voice that exited the boy's mouth said, "She's in quarantine, I believe."

The crowd gathered around the young man as the nurse searched her computer and then phoned the floor. "Floor 12, Room 1233," The nurse said as Calvin backed away. The crowd of people followed as Calvin began to pick up speed. Eventually, he had disappeared in a blur, leaving the crowd behind as he raced up the stairs.

The nurse on the floor was surprised to see the famous guest had climbed twelve flights of steps in such a short time, but then again, the guy had flown into the upper Troposphere this morning. She escorted Calvin to the doorway, before she donned a belt. A blue-yellow light emitted from the buckle as the woman entered the room. "Melanie," Calvin listened to the woman as she woke the girl up, "you have a visitor. Can you put on your belt for him?" Calvin looked around as the doors began to click open. Several patients and their guests looked out to see the visitor. The door to the room opened and the woman came out and took off the belt, followed by a small girl wearing a similar device with the same force field, which was supposed to protect her from all matter. Calvin was immediately shocked by her lack of hair. "Ten minutes, sir." The nurse instructed.

"Superman?" She squealed she looked at the red and blue suit.

"Hey, Melanie," Calvin said as he dropped to eye level with the girl.

"I saw you on the news today," The girl said with big grin, revealing a missing tooth, "you were really brave to go up against that bad man."

"Thank you," Calvin said. She had taken the words out of Calvin's mouth. He had come to say he was sorry about her father being arrested. But the girl didn't even recognize the man. He didn't think. His parents had always been together. Hers had been apart for a year. She most likely didn't know anything about him, or what he looked like. "Melanie, do you remember your daddy?"

"Not really. I know he and mommy had a big fight when I got sick," She stated, "He used to call a lot until one day when mommy said he couldn't call anymore."

"Well I ran into him today," Calvin said, "and he said he really wants to be with you, but he can't. So he said to me, 'Superman, I want you to tell her that she is the most important person in my life and that I think about her everyday.' He wants you to know that it hurts him very much that he can't see you, and that he misses you a lot."

"Where did you see him?" The girl asked.

"I had to save him. He took a bad step fell." Calvin's bastardized version of the truth was hard to tell to the girl. But Melanie didn't know. Rather, she grabbed the hero and gave him a big hug. Calvin was a little stunned. All he could feel was the same coldness of a window wrapping around him. He reciprocated, embracing the girl as close as he could, given the protective force field around her.

"Thank-you, Superman," the girl said as she finally let go. She looked up as the floor nurse returned to view.

"You need to go back, sweetie," The woman softly said, "You need your rest." Melanie walked back into the isolation room, waving at her guest as she walked in. The door slid behind her as the nurse looked Calvin in the eye, noticing that they were watery.

* * *

"Brutus," A voice yelled from inside the old house, "quit yapping at the door bell." The old woman's distorted image appeared in the glass. As the large sounding bolt opened, the door swung inward as Lana Lang looked at the guest on her porch.

"Michael," She said, recognizing the blonde boy from a day ago, "I saw your friend on the news."

"I know," Mike said as he walked in the house, "that's why I came here. I wanted to know, if you still had the thing we talked about yesterday."

"Oh," Lana said, as she walked out of the foyer and into the living room. She picked up the box and walked back, holding it out to the boy, "Why the change of heart?"

"Because," Mike said in a confident voice, "if he tried to hurt someone, he could do a lot of damage. It would be for the greater good."

* * *

"Holly," The girl's mother screamed upstairs, "it's the phone."

"Who is it?" Holly Kleine yelled back.

"He says he's a friend from school, Jon Ryder?" Holly rushed down from her room and grabbed the receiver, pushing the longest strands of her short golden hair out of her eyes as she answered.

"Hello?" She asked as she climbed the stairs again

"Holly, you're being reassigned." A much younger voice replied.

"Mom's a floor below, you can stop pretending." She said. There was a pause on the other end, and the girl swore she could have heard some slimy thing moving in the background.

"Better?" The "real" Jon Ryder's voice asked.

"Much, so what was this about me being reassigned?"

"Nothing important that would blow your cover," Ryder stoically stated, "Just keep an eye on the new Superman."

"Do you have a real name I could look for?"

"You know I can't tell…"

"Can it, Spacey, you practically told me he goes to my school. Why else have me watch out for him?"

"He is at your school, but I can't tell you his name," Jon answered, "He hasn't done anything yet, and my hands are tied."

"Whatever, as long as it keeps me from the desk job," The girl said as she hung up the phone.

* * *

Calvin sat on a patio chair in his back yard, looking up at the sky. After a good half hour of watching the news stories, he needed to think. The stars shone through the light clouds of the night sky as a car rolled into the garage. The chain link gate opened as Susan walked from the driveway to the back yard. "I thought you'd be back here," She said as she approached her son, "you used to come out here to look for Superman when you were little. You would get so excited if you thought you saw him. You would run in and tell us which way he was going."

"I was just thinking," Calvin asserted.

"I know," Susan replied, "I just think it's cute that the day the new one makes a real appearance, you're out here looking up at the sky."

"So, you like the new guy?"

"Yeah," Susan said as she looked at her son, "He seems to want to do what is right. It's a rare quality these days, with everyone trying to get ahead by any means necessary. What about you? Think he's just as good as the first Superman?"

"He's new," Calvin said, half acting, half serious, "I need to give him time."

"I think I'll give him the benefit of the doubt," Susan said as she climbed the steps to the back door, "For now, he's doing a good job." She closed the door behind her. Calvin peeled back the walls to watch as she walked into the kitchen and into the view of the window. The boy stared back out at the sky, right at Orion. "Thanks, Mom," he said to himself.


	4. Black Rock

**Journal of a Superman **

By S.P. Bley

Black Rock

"Do they always set fires?" Calvin asked into his hands-free piece, "or do I just get the sick pyromaniacs."

"If it was pyromaniac," Mike fired back, "he would have stayed to watch."

Calvin chuckled as he landed in front of the burning lobby of the bank. A police officer came up to him and pointed to the building, "The guy got away," the officer debriefed the hero, "the patrons are in a safe right now."

"So they should be safe while I go track down the bad guy and bring him back here." Calvin asked.

"Well, no," the officer said solemnly, "there's a bomb inside the safe that will cause a reaction that will remove the oxygen from the room."

"How long?"

"Min…" The officer was interrupted as Calvin raced into the building at full blast, cutting right through the heavy flames as he reached the large safe door. Grabbing the handle, Superman pulled on the heavy metal door until it came off its hinges, taking a good portion of the dry wall with it.

"Superman?" Linda called out into the phone.

"Not now!" Calvin replied as he pulled the receiver out of his ear and held onto it. He knew from tests that it didn't stay in, and might compromise his phone. Inhaling, Calvin felt the hot air flow into his throat and down into his lungs, where it was being compressed. With a pause, a blast of ice breath erupted from his mouth, smothering the fire and bathing the lobby in a light layer of snow. "Minty fresh," the boy said as he returned the hands-free to his ear.

" Cal," Linda's voice again called, "your not going to believe who just caught the guy in the get away car." 

"Wouldn't be the actual cops, would it?" He asked as he picked up an elderly couple and sped away from the bomb as it released its chemicals, causing a wind effect in the bank. As he exited into the streets of Metropolis, he looked up with the crowd. A girl with long red hair and a black, ornate mask that covered her upper face was floating above the cops, holding a man in her arms. She wore a black t-shirt and similarly colored skirt and boots. The only variation in color was a white cape flowing under her hair. As the girl landed with the man, she turned to reveal the logo on the front of her shirt: a silver S Shield not unlike the one the first Superman died in.

"No," Mike answered, "the news report is calling her Supergirl."

"You have got to be…"

"Great job," the masked girl interrupted as the cops cuffed the crook, "I just saw the cops chasing him. I had no idea that there were people trapped in there."

"You too," Calvin meekly said, "um, I could have never, um, caught him without your help."

"God," Linda's voice sounded off in the distance, "Super or not, he can't talk to girls," Followed up by a loud laugh from Michael.

" Cal," Mike's voice, broken by laughter, stated much louder, "Linda says bail before you get caught looking at her breasts on the six o'clock news," Another fit of giggles echoed into the boy's ears.

"We should go on a patrol some time," Supergirl said, bringing Superman away from the conversation on his head set, "like, team up or something."

"Sure, I'd love too do that some…"

"Alright, flyboy," Linda's voice, more audible then the last time replied, "you're late for your date. So ditch the girl and get airborne."

"I need to go," Superman said as he pushed off the ground, "patrol, tomorrow?"

"Sure, meet at the Planet Building?"

"'Kay," Superman said as he flew off towards his house.

"Smooth, Mr. Man of Steel," Linda joked into the phone, "flustered around the girl. Forget Lex having Kryptonite, half the school just needs to drum up idol chat with you."

* * *

"You wanted to see me sir?" Daniel said as he walked into the posh office of Lex Luthor. The bald man looked up and then to his assistant, who was holding out some files he needed to authorize.

"Abigail, why don't you take a break for a few minutes," He suggested, taking his attention away from the papers in the folder. The dark haired woman walked out of the office, closing the doors behind her, "She's a good kid, but lacks a few finishes that her predecessor had."

"That isn't why you asked me here, is it?" Daniel asked.

"No, not at all," Luthor said, now jumping to the heart of the matter. "After the destruction of the last project you were on, LexCorp has acquired a rather large sum of income that we cannot account for. Since we cooked the books to get rid of the money your project needed, having it all rather suddenly will look, well, bad. I was wondering if I could interest you in a new assignment that would help us both."

"Mr. Luthor," the doctor protested, "I can't do it again. If I get caught, my family would be devastated."

"I completely understand," Lex said as he typed something on the computer, "I'm just giving you first shot at the new project because yours ended so tragically. Think it over, sleep on it for a while, and tell me what you think next week, okay?"

"Sure, sir," Daniel humored the man as he walked back out the door. The doctor had already made up his mind.

* * *

"Did you find anything out about this Supergirl?" Calvin asked as he walked into the bed room, seeing his friend and brother sprawled over the desk and beds of the room.

"Except that everyone else is clueless about her," Mike stated, "No, we didn't."

"Hate to break it to you, Supes," Linda said as she gestured to the dresser, "but its in bad form to go to a date thinking about another girl."

"You know, I've never met this person, and you're making it out like we're a couple."

"Isn't that what you want?"

"I just want to have a date so I'm not the only loser without one at the dance," Calvin stated, "besides, she sounds more like someone you would be interested in."

"She's not my type," Linda said as she looked up, "aren't you getting changed?"

"Not with you in the room."

"You're not stripping," Linda retorted, "I'd be surprised if you took the Superman suit off. Just put on something nicer then that."

"So, what's she look like?" Calvin asked as he pulled down his pants, revealing the concealed layer underneath. Despite how Linda felt about it, he still felt weird with her in the room.

"Typical build, green eyes, red hair, has a mole on her…"

"…Red hair?" Calvin asked as he pulled on a pair of jeans, "like…"

"…Oh my god, Cal, you cracked the case. She has red hair like a good number of people. She might be Supergirl," Linda quipped sarcastically, "and I have black hair. You caught me, I'm the long lost Wonder Woman in hiding. And if you hadn't figured it out by now, Sherlock, your brothers hair has a tint very much like the first Supergirl's."

"Hey," Mike yelled, pulling his head away from a printed article about the first Supergirl.

"Sorry. Just seemed a little coincidental." Calvin said as he pulled on his shirt and striking a pose, "how do I look?"

"Knock 'em dead, Flyboy," Linda said as she took a quick glance.

"Alright," Calvin said as he grabbed his keys from the desk, "let's go."

* * *

A light rain blew over the parking lot as the two teens entered the lower portion of the _Barns & Noble. _Linda had picked the spot mostly because she could sit and read a magazine or book while the two talked and got to know each other before the big date that Saturday. After scanning the coffee section, Linda walked over to a girl with long, red hair. "Ashley," the black haired girl said as she pulled the boy closer, "this is Calvin, my friend I was telling you about."

"Oh, hey," the girl said as she stood up from her seat, "Linda told me so much about you. Ashley Powton." She stuck out her hand to shake.

"Calvin Lark," Cal said as he reciprocated the gesture.

"Well," Linda said, interrupting the greeting, "now that you two know each other, I have that thing to find and read. Alone. Because I was just dropping in to…"

"We understand that you can't join us," Calvin interrupted, as he shot a look at his friend. Linda took the hint and walked off towards the escalators to do look for something to occupy her time. "She thinks I'm the little brother she never had," Calvin reassured Ashley, "so, your new here. Where are you from?"

" California," Ashley answered as they took their seats.

"Which part?"

"San Fran. My mom got a job at the Aerospace museum here."

"What's she do?"

"Curator. Though she likes working with the meteorites."

"That's interesting."

"Not really. The only good I see out of it is that I get some interesting looking jewelry when she's done," She tugged on a chain around her neck, pulling a black stone, very much like a diamond in shape, into view, "She gave me this from a rock she looked at once."

"That's cool," Calvin said as he looked at the item, "what type is it?"

"Obsidian, we think."

"You think?"

"It hasn't responded to any tests that would disprove that, but it looks the part."

"So, what do you do for fun?"

Ashley looked up, "You think it's boring?"

"No," Calvin somewhat lied, "I just wanted to get to know you. Not a rock."

"Smooth," Ashley said as she dropped the chain, "did your brother teach you that one?"

"Linda told you?"

"She won't shut up about it."

"That's Mike, raising the bar for all of us."

"The other thing she didn't shut up about for a while: your speech at the Superman memorial."

"That was, well, nothing." Calvin said, blushing slightly.

"That wasn't what I saw," Ashley remarked, "you Metropolites really liked him."

"The world liked him," Calvin said.

"Yeah, but you got to fly with him. When you were five of course, but you know, that's still cool."

"It was."

"So what do you think about the new one?"

"I want to give him a chance before I pass judgment. I don't know. He seems to be stepping on a lot of toes taking up the proverbial cape and everything."

"Would that be the same with the Supergirl that is flying around as well?"

"She's pretty, I'll give her that much."

"I'm jealous."

"I don't know," Calvin said as he leaned back in his seat, "I don't like the mask. She's the first Super I ever saw who wore a mask. It's different."

"Maybe she wants to protect her identity." 

"It's just weird," Calvin trailed off. After a few moments of silence, it was Ashley who next spoke.

"So, you're on the swim team?"

* * *

"Superman's face," Holly ordered. A green image floated into view, in the shape of a bust of the new Man of Steel. She looked at the face intensely. It was familure, friendly, and yet she had no clue if she knew the guy. She looked at the computer screen and then at the image floating above her desk. The first Superman had worn glasses and styled his hair differently when off work. Maybe the same was true. After all, only a dork wouldn't comb the messy wind swept hair this boy had.

"Add glasses and comb the hair." She coldly ordered. The image flickered, and the new changes made a more mild mannered looking person. Minimizing the file on the first Superman, she pulled up the school's digital year book and narrowed out half of the student body. She then started taking out other factors, such as people with blonde hair, people who didn't have glasses, and people of a different skin color.

It wasn't an exact science, and Ryder didn't say that he was a guy in her school, but he didn't say he wasn't. One by one, the pictures disappeared as the search picked them for missing one of the criteria. Only three were left. The first couple had short hair; too short to be caught in the wind. The other had somewhat messy hair. Her eyes widened.

"Remove the smoothed hair," She strongly stated. The hair returned to its previous winded state. Uncanny and she had let him get away so easily. "Calvin Lark," Holly said, almost to assert the fact in her own mind, "you sly dog."

* * *

"So," Susan asked her husband, who had just walked into the kitchen, "what did Luthor want?" She proceeded to chop some vegetables and toss them into a pot of stew for the nights dinner.

"He wanted to give me priority one a new project," Daniel said as he maneuvered around her to begin work on the celery, "I said I would mull it over, but I'm pretty sure the answer is going to be no."

"Why's that?"

"I'm kind of ethically against it," Daniel tried to explain his feelings, but the words didn't suffice.

"Ethically against it?" Susan skeptically repeated, "I've never known you to be ethically against any science. What's he really up to?"

"Nothing, I just don't agree with it."

"He's doing something illegal," Susan said, dropping the knife, "you know we've been trying to get him since he returned."

"No," Daniel said as he embraced his wife, "I'm just not sure I agree with it ethically. It's more a matter of my family then my principles that I'm concerned about."

"Does it pay better?"

"I'm sorry?"

"If the money was better on this project then your last one," Susan explained, "you should really think about taking it. At least think about paying off our debts."

"Okay," Daniel said, as he leaned into give his wife a kiss, "I'll ask him."

* * *

Mike sat on his bed reading a book for school. He had done a lot of work on following leads about the Supergirl, with no success. He had neglected homework and was now trying to catch up when his brother walked into the room. "No luck," the blonde reported to Calvin, "How was Ashley?"

"Alright," Calvin replied, sitting at the desk and opening the laptop. A Youtube page sat on top of the computer's desk top.

"Best I could find," Mike said as Calvin hit the play button. A shot from the helicopter over the incident earlier saw him talking to Supergirl. Calvin watched as he turned to fly away, and the girl flew almost straight for the camera. In fact, it seemed deliberate, considering her wave in the viewer's direction, "from today's robbery. It's the best clip out there."

"Thanks," Calvin said as he blinked. The room around him began to fade. Cal swirled his seat and looked at, or through, his brother, examining the boy's bones as Mike read his book. He turned the chair again and looked at the computer. He looked at the chips inside, and then turned his attention to the dresser and scoped the drawers. He squinted as a cube blocked his view of everything else. He walked over and opened his brother's underwear drawer: a dark black box sat inside. Despite every attempt, the box would fade away. Instead, Calvin had to open it. He unfastened the hatches and pulled open the lid.

A green light flooded the room as Calvin felt an unbearable pain. He felt a cold numb wash over him as he fell to the ground. It became hard to breathe, every gasp a strain on his lungs to pull the needed oxygen out of the air. He couldn't focus on anything for the pain as Mike ran over him, and scooped up the green rock. Placing it inside the box, the younger brother shut the lid and put it back in the dresser. Dazed and weak, Cal slowly rose to his feet. "What was," He began, winded, "what was that?"

"Kry-Kryp-ptonite," Mike stammered.

"Why do you have Kryptonite in our room?" Calvin asked as he sat back in the chair, catching his breath.

"Superman's g-gone b-bad b-before," Mike replied.

"But I'm not…"

"…You're still vulnerable like he was," Mike shouted, "and if something happens, that's the quickest way to stop you!"

"Nothing will happen!" Calvin protested, "Get rid of it!"

"Checks and Balances, Superman," Mike retorted, looking his brother in the eyes, "or are you incorruptible by power."

"I'm going for a walk," Calvin coldly stated as he left the room.

* * *

A small thud of a sonic boom echoed over Queensland Park as Calvin flew off into the night, blowing off steam. He ascended closer to the stars, irate at the fact that his brother had brought Kryptonite into the house. To stop him no less! The clouds broke the stars as Calvin cleared some of the shorter towers and flew towards New Troy; or Bakerline or the Atlantic. Flying around the world seemed like a good way to clear his troubled mind.

Superman cleared the bay separating New Troy Island form the rest of Metropolis, looking down at the people on the elevated streets. Occasionally, a hover car would pass beneath him, but for now, he was alone in the sky. As he hovered over the wet city below, Calvin began to filter out noises. Voices below him faded as he distinguished sounds until he heard a bloodcurdling scream. Calvin raced off in the direction of the noise to the shady Suicide Slums, passing over them as the cry faded. He couldn't be too late. As he landed in the alley the scream originated from, a gust of wind from his contrail blew around several papers. As the winds stopped, a dark object in the middle of the street appeared in front of Calvin. Steam poured off the object as a noxious smell entered the Superman's nose. As he approached the thing, Calvin's eyes grew in horror as he saw that it was a smoldering, burnt body. He looked up to see if there was a culprit. Only a green trail of light off in the distance seemed odd.

* * *

"…And in local news," the electronic net anchor said in a cheery voice that did not fit the morning as Calvin looked up to the schools Vid screen in the main lobby, "the body of Markus York, a local man who has had several run-ins with the law was found in a Suicide Slums alley last night. The body was severely dehydrated and burnt. Officers described it as almost mummified and are warning citizens to be cautious. This marks the second time a murder has been committed with a similar MO, but no connection between the two has been made."

"At least until now," Linda said as she pushed her way through a see of freshmen, "Tony Matthews. Local drug dealer was killed in a similar fashion."

"Connections would be something that links two people…"

"Jobs. Both where not legitimate business men. York has a grand-theft record a mile long, and Matthews isn't held in high regards with the cops as well."

"Vigilante Justice?" Calvin asked skeptically, "that's my line of work you're bashing."

"I know, but not your style."

"Not if you ask Mike," Calvin remarked.

"He told me, Cal," Linda replied, "And I…"

"He told you?"

"We don't just talk to you when we're answering your phone calls from patrol. If he can't talk to you, he talks to me," Linda explained, "And I think he's right."

"You can't be serious, Lin," Calvin protested, "He's holding something that can kill…"

"You have too much power, Cal," Linda interrupted, "If you had peanut allergy and he kept putting peanuts in his dresser, yeah, you might have a complaint. But you can survive point blank shots of high caliber bullets without a scratch. If I was you, I'd at least be grateful that it was him, and not some soulless army general with the rock."

Calvin only glared at her as the bell rang. Linda silently turned around and walked to her first period.

* * *

The hissing of rockets sounded as the man landed on the penthouse of an upscale apartment building. He looked inside the top window down on the party. It certainly was an odd sight: a man, dressed in robotic knight armor in a city that always brought out the best of tomorrow. He reached behind his black cape and pulled out an axe. The shaft of telescoped out-ward, extending the axe away from the man. He held the pole above his head as the blade began to glow with a plasma edge and brought it crashing down on the dinner guests to the screams of the people.

The jets fired, and the man regally descended into the room, as the guest directly under him backed away. The man touched the ground and looked up at the host. "Lex Luthor," The knight hollered at the bald man, "I am here for your life."

"I would imagine you are," Luthor calmly said as security officers filed into the room, "now, perhaps I can make it your lucky day. Tell me who you are working for, and how much he or she is paying you, and I'll pay you double to leave."

"My work is not for my livelihood, Mr. Luthor," the knight replied.

"Pity," the unfazed host remarked. He looked at the security officers, "remove him."

The hired muscle took aim as the party goers raced out of the room. A blaze of laser blasts erupted from their weapons towards the knight. Most shots bounced off the man's armor. A few were deflected by his glowing axe. After a few seconds of trying, the man sprung into action, rushing towards the guards and swinging the weapon. The officers where thrown back as the blade collided. A second hack sent another group flying towards the wall, killing one. Lex decided to take his leave at the sight, rushing out of the room while the man made short work of the remaining guards.

* * *

"So," the red head behind the mask began, "what's your story?" She sat on the edge of a high rise's gargoyle spout, as the night air brushed her hair and cape back. She looked to her companion, the brown haired boy wearing the familiar colors and S-shield of his predecessor.

"My story?" Superman repeated the words, not sure what she wanted.

"Your origin," Supergirl explained, "every hero has one, what's yours?"

"Got into a fight with some splicers," Calvin stated, "I was trying to stop them from using a Superman splicing formula. They were going to do some stuff that would have shamed the original. I couldn't let that happen. I accidentally got spliced myself. It still bugs me, not knowing what my plan was past getting out of there with my life. A small voice inside my head keeps telling me that I was going to take it willingly to stop them. I'm not even sure if I would have gotten into the whole hero business unless someone gave me the suit. What about you? Same thing?"

"I don't know how I got my powers," the girl somberly confessed, "but I know why I fight. My dad collected rare antiquities. I mean, rich stuff. Jewelry that would put the Queen of England to shame. One day, some guy just randomly mugs him on the street. For creds. I could understand robbing his collection, but this guy maybe got enough money for a good dinner and hotel room. Maybe. And then he shot my dad in the chest. A year or so later, I found out I had Super powers. I vowed not to let anyone to go through life with the pain of loosing a parent. That's why I wear this," she held up a black gem stone on a chain, "The Blackrock of the Last Czar. My father wasn't a saint when it came to acquiring all his pieces. This one he gave to my mother when they got married after a trip to Russia that he never talked about. She has this thing for junk from space. Legend had it that while Grigori Rasputine was off on a journey around Europe, a meteorite crashed in a field he was passing. He saved the stone, and when he returned to Moscow, had it made into a jewel. It was said that he wore this to his dying day, and it made him a powerful man."

"That is an interesting story." Superman said, staring at the gem before she put it away.

"If I could only tell it to this guy, I think we would have had a better date."

"Why didn't you?"

"Guy's friend is a hopeless busy body. She would have made sure to tell the cops if he found out."

"If you don't trust him with a secret, what do you see in him?" Calvin asked as he sat down beside her.

"Nothing, really," she quietly said, as if the boy was right there, "The guys nice, but he's a dork. I'm only giving him a pity date for homecoming. I mean, he's probably your biggest fanboy. And his fourteen year old brother has more class then him."

"I'm very sorry to hear that," Calvin pretended to be sincere, but she was being way to coincidental.

"Yeah," She said, lost in thought, "so who gave you that suit again?"

"I'm not sure, but I think it was the first Superman."

"But he's dead."

"I know, but at the time I got it, there was no way anyone knew. I just figured maybe, if he was alive, he had some way of finding out about a new Kryptonian or something. I don't know. It's a mystery I haven't tried my hand to hard at."

"Cooler then mine. I just picked up the shirt and some other things at various gift shops. Mask is from some Halloween costume a year ago. That dork I told you about earlier, he didn't like it."

"I'm sure he would have changed his tune if he knew who you were," Superman suggested, "guys tend to do that because they think that saying something nice about a girl he is interested is better then telling her the truth." She giggled at the boy's final remarks, much to Calvin's enjoyment.

"What about you," Supergirl asked, "do you like the mask? Pretend you're not interested."

"I live in a world where the bad guys can see right through masks," Calvin pointed out, "there just in the way. Plus it spooks a lot of people, which is why I don't think the first one wore a mask. He represented hope to a lot of people. I think hope should have a face."

"I don't know how you hid your face from the world, but I need to," Supergirl said, "I don't have a way to hid myself from the world. It's my real face only. I don't know how you do it, but I'm not that super."

"In the words of that old band ZZ Top: Go get yourself some cheap sunglasses."

"Nice," she giggled. Then getting serious, she added, "I'm glad you went on patrol with me."

"Ditto."

"Last night," She continued, getting closer to the other hero, "I felt really crummy because of this guy. I wasn't going to get anywhere fast with him. I'm glad I met you."

"Me too," Calvin said, a little choked up. She was getting pretty close to his face, "Take off your mask."

"What?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

"We're partners, right? You've seen my face, at least let me see yours."

"What if someone sees?"

"We're on top of the second tallest building in the city, in an area restricted from all the tourists," Superman said, "Who's going to see? You don't need to tell me your name. Just show me what you look like under there."

"Alright," Supergirl said, untying the band of the mask. She held it in place until the strap feel away. Slowly, she pulled away the garment and opened her eyes, revealing the face of the girl Calvin saw last night: Ashley Powton.

"Hiding that face," Calvin softly said, "is cruel punishment for the bad guys."

"Thank-you," Ashley replied. She again moved closer to Calvin, grabbed him around the neck. Her face came closer to his and the next thing the boy knew, she was gently kissing him on the lips. Calvin returned the gesture. Suddenly, he backed away from the girl and looked towards a tall building in the city. "What's wrong?"

"Do you hear that?" the boy asked as he picked up the dropped mask.

"No," Supergirl replied, "what is it?"

Calvin handed the black mask to her as he pointed to a building, "Trouble."

* * *

The knight slashed at the elevator doors, hacking an X shape into the metal. He kicked the pieces in and leapt into the elevator shaft. The man fell through the dark hole until his feet connected with a metal sound. He raised his axe to make another cut.

Inside the elevator, Luthor looked up at the ceiling as a loud thud echoed threw the compartment. He turned to the panel and pressed the door open button as the scraping of the axe against the metal fill the small room. The doors slid open and the bald man ran out into the larger room as they slid closed. There was another thud, and then the metal on metal sound once more as the doors flew open. The knight walked around the damaged wreckage and looked straight at Lex. The CEO backed against a wall, beside a window and looked at the knight with, not horror, but indignation. Grabbing the axe like a spear, the night hurled it forward.

BOOM! The window broke as a high wind entered the room. Superman was only a blue and red blur as he deflected the axe from the trajectory of Luthor and made the first blow with the knight before the weapon wedged itself in the wall near the bald man.

"Idiot," the masked man cursed as he held out his hand. A light flashed on the axe, and it flew into the attacker's hand. He gripped it and swung it at the boy's chest, sending him flying back out the window.

"Gotcha," Supergirl said as she caught the hero in mid air. Calvin eased back into flight as the pair raced back to the attacker.

"Watch out for the axe," Calvin ordered, "it packs a punch."

"Axe?"

"You'll see." He thundered back towards the man, knocking him off his feet and into a wall. The axe began to drop, but the assailant held out his hand, and it returned under its own power. The knight struck Calvin in the back, sending the boy the floor. The brute stepped over Superman and again raised the device over his head as he approached Luthor. As he approached, he was met by a powerful upper cut from the now arriving Supergirl. His grip the ace loosened as it careened down the hall. Calvin quickly shot to his feet, and grabbed it. The knight looked up and watched as the Teen of Steel slammed the rod into his knee, breaking the weapon in two. The glow around the blades faded as the boy tossed them to the floor.

"There are two of you," Luthor asked in disbelief, "again?"

Calvin walked over to the man and picked him off the ground. He ripped the helmut off the armor, revealing an un-attractive man underneath. "Who sent you?" Calvin asked.

"I will not talk to you," The knight said. Calvin tossed the man to his partner.

"Take him to the cops," Calvin ordered.

Ashley nodded and flew off, holding onto the guy, "It was nice being on patrol with you."

"Would Superman be a slight bit smitten?" Luthor asked.

Calvin starred back at Lex, "Did you have something to do with her?"

"What would make you say that?" Luthor asked.

"If memory serves, I had to save one of your employees from certain doom in a room full of Superman One clones," Calvin reminded the CEO, "why not have a Supergirl?"

"Superman, anyone could have a copy of the first's genome," Lex said, "any of my competitors…"

"But I know you have."

"Again, you have no proof," Lex reminded the child, "If I remember, it was destroyed when the bombs went off." Calvin grabbed the man and lifted him off the ground. He held Lex out the broken window, some hundred stories above the ground.

"Don't play PC with me," Calvin said in a low voice, "I know you had those clones."

"Go ahead," Luthor smoothly mocked, "drop me. Do something you will regret. But I won't talk to you." Calvin pulled the man back inside and tossed him to the floor. "You tights are all alike," Luthor said getting to his feet. As he did, Calvin took off, knocking the man right back down onto the ground.

* * *

"What are you doing?" The unmasked knight asked as Supergirl descended to a dark alley in suicide slums, "I thought you were taking me to the cops."

"I don't trust you'll get the justice you deserve," Ashley sternly said as she leveled off about two feet off the ground, "I want your last thought to be that your life will now help me protect others." She said, grasping the man in both hands. The black gem stone began to glow red.

"You can't be…AHHHHH!" The man screamed as the world around him began to grow cold and dark…

A flick of light entered the black rock around the girl's chest, and the red hot glow ceased. She tossed the withered husk of a body that was once the man aside, and flew back up into the night sky.

Midway across the city, Calvin pulled out the hands-free, and dialed Linda's number. He waited through three rings until "Ca… Superman," was heard.

"Lin, are you at the computer?"

"I was just about to go to bed. Can it wait?"

"Not really. Luthor was attacked by some dude in a knight get-up. He had this axe that did a number on us. I need people who have access to…"

"Us?" Lind repeated, "Oh yeah. So who do you like better: Supergirl or Ashley?" She teased.

"It's complicated," Calvin answered.

"How so?"

"Ashley's cheating on me," he said, taking a pause for dramatic effect, "with me! Wrap your head around that, if you can!"

"Heavy," Linda mused, "is that some kind of metaphor that I'm going to end up…"

"She's Supergirl," Calvin interrupted, "and she has no interest in me. The real me, not the Super-me."

"You have issues."

"Tell me about it," Calvin replied, half joking, "I want to beat me up for kissing her."

"You kissed her!"

"She kissed me first. I just, well, was caught in the moment."

"Well, can't give you advice, Cal," Linda replied, "I don't live a double life."

"So you told your parents about liking girls then?" Calvin yelled into the phone. He knew he messed up before the click of the hung up phone sounded, "Damn it," He yelled into the night.

* * *

"So," Mike gazed across the schools parking lot at his brother, "how many of your confidants can you afford to lose?"

"What now?" Calvin asked as he swung his book bag over his shoulder.

"Lin told me about last night," Mike yelled, as he took off his tan jacket, "a low blow, Cal."

"Mike," Calvin said, wide eyed with fright, "you don't want to…"

"You don't know what I want to do," Mike yelled. Calvin saw it in slow motion: his brother's punch, going straight for his face. With a crowd in the lot, it was do or die. He took the hit and stumbled back. Sure, he was faking, but he couldn't take an unarmed hit from his brother and not flinch. Mike tossed another jab to his brother's gut, and Calvin feigned his pain. A circle had gathered around shouting and jeering as Mike rushed his brother for a third time. Another hit. Another kick. Each doing more pain to Mike then they did to Calvin physically. And still the blonde haired boy came at his brother, fire in his eyes as he tossed the next blow. After a few more passes, Mike stood back winded as Calvin looked up at him, glasses askew. The younger brother picked up his jacket and ran down the street to his home.

* * *

As Mike continued down the side of the road, cars went out of their way to avoid him. The slowed down and crossed over into the oncoming lane when it was safe. When he dared to look up, he could see the staring of the people who were leaving the parking lot. He looked up to the sky as another car did the same maneuver. A clear road meant that it wouldn't need to slow, but it was. Mike continued on until the horn blared. He looked into the rolled down window. "Get in," Linda ordered from inside. Mike followed suit and the car picked up speed.

"Best way for my brothers make amends was to let them duke it out," Linda recanted after several minutes of silence, "but they still needed to talk to someone, which was why I still get calls from them in college."

"You think there is something between Cal and me?" Mike asked sarcastically.

"Please," Linda said, "you two are no different then my real bros. Except you dweebs don't look alike. You both still come to me with your problems. In all fairness, you should have at least told him you were getting the rock from the old woman."

"That wasn't why I punched him," Mike somberly corrected, "I was mad. At him. He could take it."

"But he can dish it out too," Linda noted, "so why did you toss the first blow?"

"You," the blonde answered, "What he said last night wasn't right."

"So, we go back and forth all the…"

"I didn't give him the right to say that."

"If I didn't know better," Linda said after thinking over the conversation thus far, "I'd say that was less of the 'we-share-a-room-and-you're-just-being-a-pain' fight, and more of the you-just-dissed-my-girl fight."

"I don't know."

"Mike, do you like me?"

"Yeah."

"In a different way then your brother does?"

"I, um, well, um…"

"You can tell me the truth, Mike," She interrupted, "you don't need to worry about hurting my feelings if you don't."

"I do," Mike quickly said, "I don't want you to be hurt."

"Hurt how?"

"Like Cal did last night."

"He crossed a line," Linda calmly said, "it happens." Mike didn't speak, so she continued, "If you want to know the truth, he's right. I should tell my folks. I don't want to, but I should. They just are a little…"

"Old fashioned?"

"…Catholic. I know they would love me no matter what, but they always have this thing about me marrying a nice Catholic boy. Sometimes, my interests aren't in either and well…"

"So why don't you just not be Catholic anymore?"

"Mike," She said smiling, "I don't agree with their views on love. That doesn't mean I don't want to drive a stake through their hearts."

"So you aren't upset?"

"Not really. I was last night, but it passed," She said, deliberately missing the turn. As Mike noticed that they passed his road, Linda grabbed her cell phone and hit a button. After waiting for the other end to pick up, she spoke. "Hey Cal, incase your worried, I took Mike home. He just wanted to chat about some teacher problems." She paused, "Yeah I saw, but we're making it a 'water-under-the-bridge' thing." Another pause, this time she noticed Mike shaking his head at the humor of the situation. "Yeah, I'll tell him. Okay, bye." She tossed the phone in the cup holder and looked at Mike, "He wanted me to let you know that Supergirl is really the girl he's taking to homecoming."

"What are the odds of that?" Mike laughed.

"Oh, it gets better," Linda assured, "do you know who she's cheating on him with?"

"Not a clue."

"Superman." Linda nearly swerved when Mike laughed at the situation.

* * *

"Another body was found today in the Suicide Slums region badly scourched," a Web news anchor announced, "police say the unidentified man was earlier stopped that night by Superman and Supergirl, the latter being the last person to see him alive. Both are wanted for questioning."

Calvin's eyes filled with horror as he watched the article. He didn't do anything wrong, but wanted for questioning? This soon into the game? He hadn't been a hero for a month, and already there was a public out cry against him. The door clicked opened as the brown haired boy turned, hoping it was his brother. "Mike, it's on every… How the hell did you get in?"

Standing in the door was, not Mike or any other family member, but Agent Ryder. "Opened the door. Nice to see you too."

"Cut the crap," Calvin said as he got up, "I know that you'll say something weird and then I wake up."

"Have you figured out my MO, Superman?" Ryder asked, putting emphasis on the very last word.

"I don't know what you were talking abo…" Calvin began to protest, but trailed off as Ryder pulled a plastic bag holding the ruined goggles.

"So let's talk about your new partner," Ryder said, realizing he had the boy's attention, "She had the vic last. Have you seen her since?"

"No," Calvin said.

"And Ashley Powton wasn't at school today either?" The man asked, unfazed by the kid's stare, "it's my job to know who you all are."

"She wasn't at school."

"Did she give any reasons for that?"

"No," Calvin replied, "we're just going to the dance. Aside from that, we're not friends."

"Well, right now Calvin," the agent said as he looked up from his pad, "you would appear to be the only person who can bring her to us. She does trust you, right?"

"Sir, she's not going to like that I revealed her secrete…"

"You didn't. We figured it out."

"But she will think its me. I've hurt a lot of people already emotionally. I…"

"If what I fear is true, she could hurt a lot more people physically. I need to speak with her." The man stood up, opened the door and walked out. Calvin rushed after him and wrenched the door open, only to Linda and Mike getting out of her care.

" Cal, what's up?" Linda asked as he looked at the two of them.

"You didn't see anyone come out of the house?" He asked. The two new arrivals just stared at him.

"Dude," Mike interjected, "It's just us, unless seeing ghosts is a new power."

"Okay," Calvin said as he began to walk away, "I've got to go."

" Cal," Linda yelled, "We need to talk."

"Not now," Calvin shouted back.

"What is more important," Linda asked, "saving the world, or saving your friendships?"

"Don't make me choose this," Calvin turned to face them.

"Look at it this way," Mike suggested, "when you do save the world, will you be proud that we decided not to support you in the process?"

* * *

"I would rather be shot with kryptonite bullet then attacked by you again," Calvin said to the group assembled at the table inside his house, specifically to Michael, "I guess it just showed me how angry you where with me."

"Made you down some of that humble pie," Linda interjected.

"Look, Cal," Mike spoke, "you could do some real harm if you didn't think about your actions. I didn't want the rock, but after I heard about that guy ending up giving his own daughter Leukemia, I changed my mind. What if you did hurt someone? Where are the heroes that could stop you? That thing is all we have. I mean, you're already seeing people who aren't…"

"Ryder is real," Calvin interrupted.

"Calvin, you've said this was the first time the man in black wasn't a dream," Linda protested, "and neither of us saw him."

"But almost every time he's talked to me," Calvin retorted, "he's led me right to a problem."

"So what problem is he pointing us to this time?" Mike asked.

"Supergirl," Calvin solemnly answered, "He thinks Supergirl is connected to the serial killer. He was right before, why not now?"

"Because so far, Ashley has done nothing but help you?" Linda suggested, "But if she was the last person with the knight guy you stopped, that would make her a person of interest."

"We'll know where she'll be tomorrow night," Mike pointed out.

"Homecoming," Linda noted, her eyes widening with understanding.

"So we take her to the feds tomorrow after she's done dancing with Calvin," Mike observed, "even if she's not guilty, she'll have a miserable night."

* * *

Samantha Powton pushed open a door labeled 'Ashley' and carried in a hamper of clean laundry into the girl's room. She put it down on the floor near Ashley's dresser, and walked over to the bed and pulled off the quilt. The woman began to strip the sheets off the bed, only to recoil as the final sheet came off. Stowed neat and ordered under her bed, was an outfit not unlike that of the Supergirl on the Web. Just then, the door clicked open and the daughter walked in. "Ashley," the mother turned to face her daughter and pointed at the uniform, "what is this?"

"Who told you?" She yelled.

"It was under your bed sheets, I found it."

"You had no right to be in my room."

"I am your mother. I have just as much right to come into your room as you do." The woman yelled. Then, toning her voice down, "So, you're the new Supergirl?"

"Yeah."

"You need to turn yourself in. They want you. Don't do something you'll regret. Just tell them what you did to the man." Samantha pleaded. The girl walked closer and extended her hand towards the woman's forehead. The gem around her neck grew red hot.

"Let me show you!"

* * *

Calvin pressed the button on the side of the door. A loud bell rang inside. After the sound of feet running around, the door opened, and a girl with red hair and a blue dress stood in front of him. "You look great, Ashley," he said.

"Thanks."

"Um, this is for you," Calvin held up a corsage. After some time, he slipped the flower over her right wrist.

"It's pretty."

"Yeah," the boy said, "Isn't your mom going to take pictures or see you off or something?"

"No," Ashley began her lie, "She's busy tonight."

"I see," Calvin said. He looked up as the walls began to fade and disappear. The ceiling gave way to the second floor, and Cal saw the withered husk of a person limp on the bed room floor of the girl, "I see."

* * *

"She did what?" Mike asked, maintaining a hushed yell over the loud music. He was baffled about the story his brother had told him. He was confused more about the action it seemed to justify.

"She's the killer," Calvin confirmed again, "which is why I need to keep an eye on he while she's with Linda."

"Face it, bro," Mike smiled, "You just want an excuse to use x-ray vision on the girls' room. Cree is in there, right?"

"I'm not undressing her, if that's what you're implying," Calvin noted as the two girls came out of the bathroom, "and now I'm done."

As the two ladies met up with their dates, a slow song started up. Linda grabbed Mike and dragged him to the center of the dance floor. Ashley folded her arms. "Would you like to dance?" Calvin asked. Silently, she held out her hand. Calvin took it and walked towards the edge of the crowd of people and put his arms on her waist as she wrapped hers around the boy's neck. A wide, awkward gap filled the space between them. He looked over to his brother and friend. There was barely any space between them. He turned his head back to the girl in front of him, noticing that she was just as disinterested as he was. Cal followed her gaze to a series of men who were walking into the room. Calvin instantly recognized one of them: Agent Ryder, in the flesh. "Ashley," Calvin said as Ryder moved closer, "I know you're Supergirl. I also know that you need help. You're in over your head, and you need to admit that."

Ryder pointed in their general direction as the men walked over. "Ashley Powton," the agent asked.

"What?" the girl replied, turning to face the man.

"You are wanted for questioning for the murder of Samantha Powton," Ryder continued, "please come with us."

The black rock around her neck glowed brightly as Ashley grabbed Calvin's wrist. Calvin felt something flow between the connection as his legs weakened underneath him. He started to double over as the crowd watched the feds back away. Ashley, on the other hand looked surprised as Calvin was not turning into a burnt shell of himself. Her eyes widened as, for the first time, x-ray vision revealed the face behind the glasses.

"Of course," She whispered as she picked up Calvin and flung him towards the wall on the opposite side of the gym. The boy's limp body struck the wall and fell to the ground as Mike and Linda rushed over to him.

" Cal," Linda said as she bent closer to him, "are you okay?"

Calvin only looked over to Ashley, who was rising above the other students. She looked up to the ceiling as a blast of heat vision erupted from her eyes and broke a hole through the roof. With a loud bang, the girl rocketed skyward. "Come on," Mike began as he pulled his brother's arm over his shoulder, "you need to get out of here."

"We need the rock," Calvin weakly said as Linda followed suit, "this is why you had it, right?"

* * *

The scene in the parking lot was utter confusion to most of the people. For Linda and Mike it was simple: Get Calvin better, get the kryptonite, and stop Supergirl. Easier said then done. They at least needed some speed. Linda searched the parking lot for a flying car that had not yet taken off. There was only one. And it meant swallowing her pride.

"Holly," Linda said as she approached the girl with the short, blonde hair, "I need a ride. That freak hurt Cal badly, and I need to some speed."

"Sure," Holly said, a little concerned after her discovery, "where to?"

"It's more that I need a car," Linda said, "and not a driver. I swear, I'll pay back what ever damages…"

"Linda," Holly said as she held out the keys, "you did so much for me when I got back. I trust you."

"This still doesn't…" Linda began.

"I know," Holly interrupted, "but you can't blame a gal for trying. I'll walk."

"Right," She turned to her date and his brother, "let's get Cal in and get out of here." She barked as the blonde walked away. With a slight strain, Calvin was able to get into the back seat on his own power, as the two got into the front seat and Linda began to take off.

Down in the lot, Holly watched as the car flew off. She turned back towards the gym and walked up to find another ride. Half-way up the stairs to the building, she passed agent Ryder coming down. "Trail them," where his only words. Holly nodded and ran behind the building, out of sight from the crowd. Taking cover behind a dumpster, she held her right fist up, which became surrounded by a green light.

* * *

"Who was she?" Mike asked as the picked up altitude.

"A friend," Linda said, "who was more then that at one point."

"I wouldn't have asked her if I had…" Calvin weakly began.

"Well now you do," Linda said as the car picked up speed.

"I thought she wasn't coming tonight," Calvin mused.

"I'm sorry?" Mike questioned.

"She said," Linda informed, "she wasn't coming tonight. Calvin wants to know why she was there when we got the ride."

"Ours is not to question," Mike mused, "she could have just as well refused to give us the car."

The group road on in silence. After a while, several SWAT vans flew past them. The occupants of the car knew where they were headed.

The car landed in front of the house as Mike ran out and into the building. Inside, the large vid screen was on, and both parents watching it as the boy bolted for the stairs. Half-way up the stairs, the blonde haired boy turned to check out the story.

"Live from West Metropolis High School where the homecoming dance was crashed by a meta-human," the reporter noted as Mike saw shots of the wreckage, "police have deigned any rumors, but sources are telling us that it was Supergirl gone rogue that has the force out en masses over the city tonight."

"Mike," Susan said as she turned around on the couch, "we just heard the news. Is everyone alright?"

"Yeah," Mike said as he continued to climb, "We decided to eat out since the party got wrecked. Cal just needs to drop his date off, and we'll be fine. I just needed my wallet." He lied. He raced up to his room and pulled open the drawer. Inside, the dark box sat, its lead paint shielding its contents. He grabbed it and stuffed it into the jacket pocket that would be furthest from his parents. After grabbing his wallet, he ran downstairs.

"Tell Calvin to call us," Daniel said as the door shut behind them. Mike ran across the grass and hopped into the car.

"How's Cal?"

"Better," The older brother answered, "I'm going after her."

"At least let us get airborne," Linda said as the car picked up off the ground, "We can be closer if you need help quicker, and people are less likely to see you taking off."

Calvin nodded and began to strip out of his formal attire. Up over the suburbs, the Teen of Steel opened the back door of the car and stepped out, hovering besides it. The boy closed his eyes as he listened for the sound of anything that could lead to Supergirl. Sounds of the nearby engine, the people below, the barking of a dog, all faded as he listened. "I said LEAVE… ME… ALONE!" A voice echoed.

Inside the car, a red streak flew past the windshield and in a northern direction. "The chase is afoot, Watson," Linda said in a bad accent as she kicked the car into high speed.

* * *

A hovering police car was the first to see the girl now in her Supergirl outfit, sans mask, and stopped right in front of the flying menace. "Freeze," One of the officers yelled as they hovered beside the girl, "or…"

"What," Ashley taunted, "you'll shoot me?" Go ahead." The officer hesitated as the girls eyes flashed red, "No, then let me."

A red and blue streak plowed into her as a blast of red light lanced the side of the hovering police car. The force caused the vehicle to spin wildly. Mid way down, Calvin let go of Ashley, who crashed into a back hoe on a construction lot. He realigned himself, and shot towards the falling police car, catching it by the nose and slowing its decent to the ground. He placed it on the street and floated off into the construction zone, looking for Supergirl. He glided over to the dented back hoe and looked at the hole. She was gone. As he turned around, Calvin met an upper cut that struck with a force powerful enough to send him smashing into the machine. The young woman in black grasped his neck and tossed him towards the wall of the building that was going up.

Calvin crashed through the brick and skidded on the cement floor, causing a portion of it to be distorted. "Guys," he said into the earpiece, "Construction sight on 85th and Max. I'll keep you posted if I move."

"Rodger that," Mike said as the red headed girl flew in, ready to toss a punch.

As she got close, Calvin held both of his hands together. She tossed the first punch, which he side stepped and speedily slammed her with both fists, sending her across the room, breaking concrete pillars as she descended closer to the ground, where she rolled to a stop.

Outside, the car landed as Mike got out. They had agreed that Linda would stay in the air incase something got messy. Mike looked around the darkened sight until he noticed a cloud of dust and a rumble come from inside the building. The younger brother ran towards the room in time to see the two supers rush each other. In the blink of an eye, the blonde haired boy watched as the girl tossed Superman through the ceiling and flew up after him.

"Calvin," Mike yelled through the phone, "is there stairs in this place?"

"Yeah," the boy said as he x-rayed the building from his point on the top floor, "turn to your ri…" He was cut off as the girl landed a punch to his face, making a indentation in the floor of the uncompleted floor.

"I just needed a buzz," She said as she picked up Superman, "that's why I only slightly drained you."

"What?"

"I thought you would have figured it out by now," She said, looking down at the rock, once again glowing red, "the black rock absorbs ambient energy and allows me to control it. That's why I could only use you powers after I zapped you at the dance."

"These aren't Kryptonian?"

"I lied, Calvin," She coldly confessed, "I found out the nature of the device a few weeks after wearing it. Back in Rasputine's day, it probably took a life time to build up to sufficient energy levels to be able to survive four bullets at point blank to his chest. But in this era where radio waves are omnipresent, I was like a goddess."

"Yeah," Calvin said as looked at her, "even Rasputin, the evil of Russia, didn't kill like you did." Ashley slammed the boy into the ground, sending a large slab of concrete crashing into the floor below.

"Those people deserved what they got. They were criminals. In a few years, they would have been back on the streets repeating the process until they died. I just helped speed up the process."

"Lady," Mike's voice called out from behind her, "that is pretty wrong. You supers are supposed to offer hope, not fear like you're causing."

"You don't know anything about this life." She yelled.

"And your mother, did she ground you?" Mike shouted back, "I thought you didn't want to go out with him."

"You can wait, Cal," Supergirl said, dropping the weak boy to the ground, "your brother can't." She lifted off the floor and glided over to Mike.

"You look," Mike said as he opened the lead box, revealing the green stone, "green. Feeling alright?"

The girl fell to the floor, a scream of pain issuing from her mouth. Calvin felt the numb, but it was less intense then it would have been had Mike gotten closer. However, Ashley crawled closer to the green walk, each movement causing her to expel a gasping pain. Mike backed away, only to find himself in a corner. Struggling hard, the Supergirl lifted her hand and clasped the green gem, letting out a high shriek of pain. Only to be stopped.

"Nice try, but as I was telling your brother," She said in a very gruff voice, "I control all energy, including this stuff. And now, I can really do some damage." A dark green energy ignited around her hand, as she took aim. With a sickening shriek, the kryptonite blast fired towards the fallen Superman, who was desperately trying to get up. The blast tossed his body like a rag doll, into the air. Cal opened his eyes. He saw how far the car was. He was too weak to fly, and Linda wasn't fast enough to catch him. As his eyes closed for what was sure to be the last time, the world turned bright green…

* * *

Mike watched in horror as his brother flew away. He looked down at the kryptonite and back at the crazy girl in front of him. The stone around her neck glowed red as she raised her hand towards Michael's face.

Just then, a narrow, green light flew across the girl's chest, just above the black rock. It sliced the chain before getting pulled into the falling jewel. Ashley looked to her side, as did Mike, to the source. A blonde haired woman, with her right fist extended outwards, was floating above the building, suspended by a green light that surrounded her body. As the light faded around her fist, Mike noticed the green object on her finger. She was a Green Lantern. And behind her, on a large plasma eagle, Calvin lay.

Ashley reached for the fallen stone, but a blast of green light erupted around in between the two on the roof. The Supergirl recoiled as Mike noticed the semi-transparent green crab standing over the stone, menacing Ashley with its large claws.

"Ashley Powton, under Justice League Protocol," the green lantern said as another streak of light erupted from her ring, "you are under arrest for murder in the first degree." The light formed a ball around the depowered Supergirl's fists and brought her hands together behind her back, much like flexi-cuffs. The green lantern floated down to the ground, dropping the field around her when she touched the concrete. The strand of light between the two girls closed, dragging Ashley towards the hero. On the eagle, Calvin began to stir, as Mike shut the box and Linda pulled the car up. "You three need to get out of here," the girl said as the eagle transformed into a cot and slipped the boy into the back seat. Once inside, the light rearranged itself and formed stairs from the passenger's door to Mike.

A few minutes later, the car roared off into the night. The green lantern waited for ten minutes before a man climbed up the stairs. A bubble appeared over the criminal, blocking sound from enetering. "Hello, Ryder," The green Lantern smiled, "She's no threat now."

"Good job, Holly," the detective said, "what about the rock?"

All green faded as the Lantern picked up the object that had caused all the nights events. "Good point," She said, placing her hand to her ear. "JLU, one for pick up."

As Ryder cuffed Ashley, a blue light surrounded Holly, and instantly, she was gone. He turned to the red head. "You have the right to remain silent…"

* * *

Calvin's eyes flickered in the morning light. He shut them again, only to have a soft wind blow across his face. He bolted up, looking at rolling hills just outside of the city. He stepped out of the car's back seat, and looked at the two people watching the sun rise over the city. Then down at his shirt, realizing he was still wearing the Superman outfit.

"Are we dead?" He stupidly asked.

"No," Linda said, turning away from the sun. Both she and Mike got up and walked towards their friend, "we came close, though."

"So, why are we out in a field?"

"Well," Mike said, "you where out cold, and Linda and I needed to keep you from going anywhere where you might be found out, so we decided we both wanted to see the sunrise once."

"We told the 'rents we were at an impromptu after party," Linda added.

"…and that you were tired and out cold," Mike interjected, "with out consuming alcohol. Which reminds me; they said they would kill you if you came back hung over. Don't know how they plan to, but they will."

"And we talked until you woke up," Lin finished.

"Nothing more then talk?" Calvin asked. Linda only slapped him. "Okay, nothing more. So we beat the bad guy at least."

"Well, no," Linda said, "that goes to Green Lantern."

"A good looking one in tights," Mike added, getting an elbow from Linda.

"So, we nearly got killed?" Calvin confirmed.

"Pretty much," Mike answered.

"I guess none of us where as ready as we thought," Linda said as she looked up at the sky. The boys followed her gaze to the orange clouds above the city, "are you hurt, Cal?"

"Not really," He said, imagining how awesome it would be to see the clouds up close, "I still have my friends."


	5. Oddballs

**Journal of a Superman**

By S.P. Bley

Oddballs

_Hessen, Germany…_

In the side streets of the sleepy little village, two back packers sat, looking out at the people who passed them by. They almost had a bright neon sign above their heads screaming that they were Americans to the natives. The small town was used to its fair share of guests all wondering about the "haunted" castle that their town slept under.

"Charlie," the first boy, Jesse, spoke. An unusual character, he had distinctively purple hair and looked like a typical American punk with a bracelets that looked like small, spiky dog collars around his wrists., "where is he?"

His friend, slightly taller, had a more conservative look to him, sporting short, black hair, jeans, a white t-shirt, and a green hoody. He looked around the crowd until he spotted a local man, who looked to be in his fifties, leaving a pub. "There," the boy said as he pointed to the guy.

Casually, the two boys walked over to the man, who was making a quick exit through the alley. Charlie stepped closer, "Entschuldigen bitte, mein Herr," he said in fluent German, "sprechen sie englisch?"

"Nein," the man replied.

"Ask him," Jesse hissed as Charlie rolled his eyes. The black haired boy grabbed the German and slammed him against the wall. As he did, the black hair changed to white, as the boy's skin grew paler. The pupils in his eyes faded until they were pink.

"Du!" The local said, as Charlie's red pink eyes looked at the man in the face.

"Wohin findet man Gehirn vertrauen?" Charlie asked in a low voice.

"Ich ausführen nicht kennen." The man protested.

"What did he say?" Jesse asked.

"He doesn't know," Charlie translated, "but he thinks differently." He looked the man and slowly enunciated, "Sie Lage."

"Bestand uns stehen Es ist mir bekannt, wieso würden Ich sitzen Sie?" The man replied.

"He said," Charlie noted, "if he did know, why would he tell us?'"

"Ask him if he knows what will happen if he doesn't tell me where my sister is?" Jesse replied, as he reached for something inside his book bag.

"Don't worry," Charlie said as he held up the man, "we got what we came for." He tossed the man to the ground.

"Ich wirst erzählen Sie Sie sind kommend!" The man yelled.

"Now what?" Jesse said as he looked back at the old man.

"Schläfst!" Charlie ordered. Instantly, the German slumped to the ground as the two boys walked away. "He said he would warn the others we were coming. He didn't count on being out until tomorrow morning." Jesse chuckled as he grabbed the albino's coat. Instantly, they disappeared in a flash of purple light.

* * *

The two boys stood on a hill over looking the castle walls. Charlie knew from the moment he saw all the men moving around the ramparts, this would be insane. He turned to the purple haired boy, who was now wearing a similarly colored hoodie and sporting a bow and quiver filled with arrows in the same shade. Jesse did not look back at his friend, but focused on the building in front of them. Charlie looked back.

"You know what we're doing, right Chuck?" Jesse asked as the albino boy took off his green sweatshirt, "I don't care about some gift your father gave you. We want Riley. If you go after the Ku-uf…"

"…Kuru pendant," Charlie corrected.

"Whatever," Jesse continued, "we'll get it another day. We just want to get our little gang back together, and get out of here."

"Yeah," Charlie said as he stood to full height, "get Riley. Got it."

"I know you do," Jesse sarcastically quipped. Charlie's feet left the ground before slowly hovering. As his friend began to float higher, Jesse saw the boy disappear. _Cutting telepathy, now. _The albino's voice echoed inside his friends head. Jesse looked back to the castle. _Good luck, _he thought, almost certain his friend couldn't here him.

Charlie slipped past two men on the ramparts and dove through the floor, phasing right through without leaving any sign he was there. Several floors down, Charlie spotted an old blonde man, with graying hairs, walking down the corridor. He knew the man well and drifted in front of him. Reappearing, the man's face had a look of shock. Charlie, however, was delighted to talk. "Panzer," He yelled out, "remember me?"

The man charged at the boy, whose body became transparent as the guy ran right through a wall, ripping bricks to the floor. "Come on, I thought we were friends." Charlie taunted as the man came back and tossed a punch at the albino boy. He ducked, and through his own, sending the Panzer back towards the hole in the wall again. The tank of a man charged yet again as Charlie dodged another volley. The boy tossed his own at the brute. Instead of hitting the man, it went right through his body, causing the guy to fall to gasp for air.

"Do me a favor," Charlie asked as he drew his hand back while the guy fell to the floor, "Stay out of sight." The albino boy picked up the man and dumped the body in a broom closet. As the door closed, his own body started to regain color as his features began to mimic those of the man. He continued down the hall, passing other people and gleaning information about the whereabouts of Riley. He followed the direction the people where unintentionally pointing him, to find himself in the dungeon.

"I have orders from Edgar," He spoke in German, "he wants me to interrogate the prisoner."

The two guards looked at each other, "Edgar said no one was to enter except him." The one man said.

"He also said," the other added, making a slow and drawn out movement, "that if any one asked to see the prisoner, to kill them." The man dropped his foot as the stone floor beneath Charlie rose like a wave, knocking him off balance. The other leapt into the air, and thrusted his hands forward, sending the masked boy into a wall.

"Force field or not, Panzer," the earthquake generator said, "I've wanted to do this for a long time." A giant rock flew off the ground, and rushed towards the boy. Charlie's eyes flashed red, as a beam burst from them and collided with the rock, shattering.

"It's the Martian boy," the wind generator yelled, as he tapped an insignia on his chest. A loud screech echoed through out the castle as people began to move to defend against the invader.

Out on the hills, Jesse saw spot lights flick on around the castle, as a sound very much like an air raid siren echoed from the building. "Damn it, Chuck," he yelled as he rushed towards the castle. Getting a running jump, he disappeared in a flash of purple light.

Up on the roof, two men and a woman were running across the ramparts. Suddenly, a whoosh sound pierced the night, followed by a tiny explosion. Hurled from the explosion, a net opened, and pinned the first man to the ground. His allies looked up from the sky, as another whoosh and explosion sounded behind them. Before either had time to react, a bola wrapped itself around the woman, discharging a small electrical shock that incapacitated her. The last standing man turned to look in the new direction, only to be struck from behind by something blunt. As he slumped to the ground, Jesse looked down. "Like I would really waste an arrow on you?" He asked right before he ported off.

The tactic was simple: Teleport, Fire, Teleport. It always ensured that he would hit his mark from an unexpected angle, and then be in the clear as he fired another. Teleport. He was over a girl with black hair. He fired a shot with a knock-out gas. Teleport. He was behind a big guy with electrical powers. An explosive shot to the ramparts sent him falling to the court yard. Teleport. Jesse found himself over a man who was firing a laser at the spot previously occupied by him. A downward shot with a flash/bang arrow forced the man to aim at the part of the tower he was standing on, causing it to blow out from under him.

Back in the dungeon, Charlie moved to dodge an air gust, and fired another concussive eye blast at the man who controlled air. He was tossed against the opposite wall as the wind died down. As another wave of earth issued from the remaining guard, Charlie phased through it, and flew straight for the guard. As he passed through the man, he partially solidified, causing the man to fall to the ground as he shot through the halls. The albino boy abruptly stopped in front of a large metal door. The boy dug his fingers into the steel and ripped the door away from the wall. Inside was a brown haired girl, about a year younger then he was, strapped to a thick stainless steel stock mounted into the floor.

"I swear to god," the girl said as the albino drew closer, "if you're Luke Skywalker and you are here to save me, I'll slug ya."

"I can't be Luke," Charlie said as he bent down towards the girl, "I'm not you're brother. Besides, Han's cooler."

"Yeah right," She smiled as he grabbed her arm, "Han would have figured out that this had a plasma field inside to prevent him from pulling Leia out."

Charlie pulled his hand away from her. He had almost killed himself and Riley by not paying attention. _Jesse, _he telepathically called out, _get down here!_

The courtyard's fountain broke as a woman pulled the water into the air, and shot it at the teleporting archer. In a flash of light, Jesse was behind the woman, and fired an arrow at the hovering liquid. It exploded, releasing a blue gas which almost instantly crystallized into ice, and fell to the ground as the woman jumped out of the way. _Where is here? _He asked as he fired an arrow filled with an adhesive compound at another woman who seemed to use her hair as a third arm. Almost instantly, an image of a dungeon room entered into the purple haired boy's mind, as the laser man walked up in front of him. _Be there…_

"…in a few." He said as he appeared in the dungeon room in a flash of light. In the window behind him, a laser shot to the ground where he had been standing blowing a pillar of earth into the sky. "Smooth."

"You still have that thermite arrow?" Charlie asked.

"What do you need?" Jesse asked as the albino pointed to a wall panel.

"Plasma lock cuffs. I need it off before I get her out." The pale boy explained.

"Get out of here," Jesse told his friend as he put on a pair of sunglasses. As Charlie backed out of the room, the boy with the purple hair looked at his sister, "Close your eyes." She did, and a whoosh sound, signifying the arrow's flight, pierced the room. Jesse stood back as the device broke into the wall above the panel. A white hot glow ignited inside the arrow until molten iron flowed from the destroyed tip, slagging the arrow, the wall, and the electronic panel. When the iron began to cool, Charlie walked back into the room. It was much hotter then when he left, and he felt woozy as he grabbed Riley and pulled her out of the stocks. They both collapsed from the floor as a sound of people came down the stairs. "Chuck, you okay?" Jesse asked.

"What's wrong with him?" Riley asked, pushing her blonde hair out of her eyes.

"Too much heat," Jesse answered, "We need to jump."

"You can't," Riley protested, "You could barely take the three of us out of the gates with one jump."

"Then we hope we don't get blasted," Jesse said as he grabbed his sister and his friend, disappearing in a bright purple light.

They reappeared outside the walls, right by the tree line. A shout from the castle behind him told the two conscious members of the party that they had been spotted. With a gasp of air, Jesse teleported deeper into the woods as several blasts struck the spot he was standing on. They were out of the worst of the danger.

* * *

_Metropolis, United States…_

The elevator door slid open as Calvin and Linda walked onto the floor. Calvin looked longingly back at the door as it slid shut. He didn't want to be here, and his look of despair was not the first give away. "Doesn't saving hostages from a rogue nuclear man count as community service?" Calvin whispered as the pair walked down the halls.

"I checked," Linda said, "and there wasn't anything in the rule books about it."

"I tell you," Calvin joked, "I'm being discriminated against."

"Yeah, you heroes have it so ruff, with all those girls yelling help just to meet you," Linda teased as they walked into the room. Inside, twenty sixth graders were all chatting loudly at their desks. Linda's eyes grew wide as she looked towards Calvin and whispered "Help."

"Alright," the teacher spoke up over her class, "the students from WMH are here for the peer education program." The students whispered among themselves as the teacher walked to the door. She winked at the two older students as she left the class room. For forty minutes. Calvin felt his heart sink for a little bit.

"Alright, so I want to start by introducing ourselves," Linda said as she pulled out some papers from her backpack, "my name is Linda Johnson; I'm a junior at West Met. High. I play basketball, and occasionally have been in some plays."

"I'm Calvin Lark," the bespectacled boy stated, "I'm also a junior at West Met. High and I'm on the swim team. Before I begin, I want to point something out, that is a door," his finger pointed to the two doors in the front and back of the room, garnering giggles from the kids at the desk, "I am not going out there, and saying Johnny has cooties, or Mary likes-likes Bobby. I am going to be telling some stuff about me that I don't want others to know. Linda is going to tell you about things she doesn't want people to know. People might bring up things they are uncomfortable with, and it is very mean to talk about it around the lunch table. Likewise, if you don't feel comfortable with what we're saying, your teacher is doing work outside, and you may sit with her."

"What I want you all to do know," Linda said, "Is go around the room, and have you tell us your name, what elementary school you went to before coming here, and one thing that you think is special about you."

The kids sounded off with their names and interesting facts about their lives, often broken in by the two older kids. Linda was particularly encouraging towards the people who had been in various civic events, while Calvin broke the monotony when someone mentioned sports accomplishments. Both became interested when a kid ticked off an odd talent. The roes ticked off their hobbies, interests, and talents one by one until the came down to the last boy, a kid with dark skin and hair, who looked somewhat down trodden.

"My name's Justin. I went to West Brook," He began, "And I'm not special."

"Come on," Calvin said, "everyone has a gift: something that makes them unique."

"Not me," Justin retorted, "I'm just normal."

* * *

"Ladies and Gentlemen," the flight attendant's voice rang over the intercom, "we will be beginning our descent to Metropolis International. At this moment, we would like to ask you to turn off all electronics and stow your trays."

"Hey," Riley said as she nudged the black haired boy sleeping in the seat next to her, "we're almost there, Charlie." She marveled at how different he looked. She knew that, by birth, he was albino. But rarely did he ever show it, save for when in alter ego. He looked so different with pigments in his skin, hair, and eyes.

Charlie stirred from his seat, and began putting away his various carry-ons that he had unpacked during the flight to Germany. "Thanks," He said as he stuffed a back pack full of his possessions, "you know I could have flown us."

"Not in the condition you were in," Riley protested as he stowed his laptop in the carrying case, "and we needed to get here ASAP."

"Have you seen my DVD?" Charlie asked, as he craned his head to look for it.

"In the pocket in front of you," Riley said as her eyes flashed yellow. Charlie looked up at her as he pulled the DVD out and put it in the backpack.

"You're sure that this kid is hidden?" He asked.

"I could only see Metropolis," Riley reassured, "but this one's different, Chuck. When I looked for him, he just, vanished. Me finding him was a threat to his life. So his body corrected the problem."

"So we're flying blind?" Charlie asked.

"But so are they," Riley reminded, as Charlie put his last few things away.

BOOM! A loud thundering echoed through the plane, which began to shake violently. The plane's nose seemed to tilt dangerously to earth as Riley pushed up the plastic window cover and looked out. Charlie tilted his head and saw thick black smoke rising off the wing. The thud had awoken a sleeping Jesse in the aisle seat, who saw the smoke as well. "I thought this was a no smoking flight," he groggily yawned.

"Not funny, Jess," Riley scolded

"Holy shit, we're on fire," Jesse yelled as his eyes widened, getting rid of any hints of sleep.

"Very good," Riley quipped, "would you like a cookie?"

"I'm going out," Charlie said as he undid his seat belt.

"Yeah, there's a fire at 20,000 feet and you want to send the person who is weakened by flames?" Jesse said, blocking his friend's exit.

"It's Edgar," Riley interrupted, pointing out the window to a man who was flying over the wing. He had silver long hair and looked to be somewhat overweight. The man was hovered over the plane wing in an Indian squat. He raised his hands above his heads as a blue flame charged around them.

* * *

"So, that was a good first day," Linda said as the kids started to get up, "we're going to let you out early for lunch, and we'll see you tomorrow. Class dismissed."

The kids ran out as Calvin looked up at the sky and saw jet contrails off in the distance. He zeroed in on the plane, and saw a fire erupt on one of its wings. Calvin watched as the man flew up over the plane wing. _He flew! _Calvin said in his mind as he rushed for the door. "Gottogo," he said in one breath.

"What," Linda remarked, "you need to catch a plane?"

"As a matter of fact," Calvin replied as he began to run down the middle school's hallway. He emerged from the building behind a dumpster, away from the prying eyes of the young students, and began to strip down to his hero suit.

* * *

"Justin," a large boy called out as the smaller entered the bathroom, "we were just looking for you."

"You see," another boy said as he walked towards the kid, "last time we saw you, you ran around a corner and disappeared."

"This means," the third said, "that we didn't get to give you your pounding that you had coming to you. And we were looking forward to that."

As the three boys approached, Justin ran into the nearest stall and slammed it shut. The bullies began to pound on the wooden door, trying to break it in. Justin kept on backing away as the doors pounded. For a small space, he found himself pressing further and further back. He took another step, and was blinded by the unexpected light. He winced as he looked around the back of the school. Over by the dumpster, a man in the new Superman suit stood, strangely wearing glasses, over a pile of clothes. Justin squinted at the Man of Steel, and before the glasses came off, the young boy realized who he was: Calvin, from last period.

Calvin put the glasses down and bent his knees. With a great jump, he flew off into the air, sending a gust of wind away from the dumpster, ruffling Justin's hair.

Calvin ascended rapidly, breaking through the low level clouds. With a burst of speed, he slammed into the man hovering above the wing, sending a blast of blue fire into the sky. Superman picked up speed as he pushed they grey haired man away from the jet. As the craft's tail pulled away from the two flying men, the Teen of Tomorrow pulled back and slowed, while the man continued in his intended course, propelled by a combination of momentum and gravity.

The superhero doubled back and reached the wing in record speeds. He inhaled deeply, and let a cold blast of air pass over the burning wing, instantly smothering the flame. Inside, Charlie, Riley, and Jesse watched as the wing chilled and the fire died and Superman flew under the plane to guide it to earth. The shape-shifter got out of his seat, once again stopped by Jesse. "We just had this talk," Jesse protested as his friend phased right through his legs.

"Fire's out, I'm helping," Charlie said as he walked to the back of the plane. Reaching the back, he opened the door to the lavatory and stepped inside. His form changed, loosing all pigmentation, as he placed a pair of sunglasses over his pink red eyes. With a running start, he charged straight at the small toilet, and passed through the wall and into the upper atmosphere. The Martian veered underneath the jet as it started to turn towards the airport. "Need a hand?" The pale boy called out over the jets to the hero he flew besides, "Edgar is going to come back, and I can't face him alone."

Superman could have nearly dropped the plane when he saw the albino flying besides him. No matter how used to it he was, others flying was really weird to Calvin. "Okay," Calvin said as he they swapped grips, "just land it safely, and get lost."

"I'll find you after all of this," Charlie said as he dropped the plane towards the ground and Superman went after the other flying man. Halfway towards an impact, the man's hands glowed bright blue and discharged a violent blast that Superman just couldn't avoid. It disoriented the Teen of Steel, who lost altitude and fell several feet. Catching himself, Calvin looped up and, using his momentum, threw an uppercut to Edgar's face. As he flew up, Calvin caught him and looped again, flying downwards to earth at an incredible speed. Half way down, the man's eyes flashed green, and the blue sky and white clouds warped into a sickly green and black, and began to distort and warp at random places as a loud wind echoed in Superman's ears. The teen let go of the man as he held his hands to his head. As he hit the tower line, Calvin inadvertently skidded into the side of a building, blasting away the outer covering, before he pulled away and slammed right into an intersection. As the dust settled, Superman looked up at the sky line. The man landed on the top of a building, and using a cane for support, looked down at the mess before walking off.

* * *

The cold water parted out of Calvin's way as he pulled himself through the pool. It was possibly harder practice then it was before he had gotten his powers. Now, he had to pretend to do his best. Being his real best meant that the current 500 meter lap he was doing would have been done in minutes. It took every fiber of his being to be this bad, and still he felt like it wasn't enough.

With 50 more meters to go, the brown haired boy motored through the water, tapping the wall in the shallow end, and powering back to the deep end, grabbing onto the edge of the wall as if it were stopping him from falling down into the twelve foot depths of the pool. Calvin dunked his head under water and brought it back up, starring right up into the eyes of a very angry looking Coach Shuster. The mans, graying hair and polo shirt looked out of place in a room of teenagers with the bare minimum on, though that was most likely for the best. "Lark," He yelled, as if Calvin was at the other end of the pool, "my office. Now!"

Calvin pulled himself out of the water and walked into the coach's office, which was near to the pool deck. It was quite possibly the only office Calvin had ever been in where there was a drain in the center of the floor. In truth, it was the old pump room, converted to Shuster's office. "Cal, we both know that your times over the past couple of days are, well, off," Shuster said as he sat down at the desk, "for lack of a better term."

"Sorry, coach, I guess a lot of stuff has been slowing me…"

"You're not slow," Shuster interrupted, "you're too fast. For a person with your current potential, your at the high end of your performance. Are you back on again, Cal?"

"No!" Calvin protested, "I've been clean since I was caught."

"Cal, your physique would suggest other…"

"I worked damn hard to get where I am," Calvin yelled, "You didn't need to give me that second chance, coach, but when you did, I vowed to turn it around."

"Cal, your done for today," Shuster calmly stated, "go home, and get a start on some home work."

"But, Sir…"

"Do it!"

Calvin left the office and made a beeline for the locker room. It was rather surprising how quickly it was fixed up. Once in the room, he pulled off his goggles and tossed them to the other end of the room.

"Guess my sister never fails," a voice called out from the refurbished stalls. Calvin turned to see a boy with distinctly purple hair. While such fads were present in the school, Calvin would have defiantly known who the kid was. But he didn't. "You look just like the guy who saved our plane. You wear specs too," the boy asked as he walked out of the shadowy part of the room, "just like your old man?"

"I don't know what your talking about," Calvin said.

"See," the boy said, "that's where I know you're lying. You see, me, my friend, and my sister, we both have these nice little gifts. She can find just about anything in the world. Which is why I knew to come here. She found Superman."

"Like I said," Calvin coldly said as he turned his back on the kid, "I don't know what your talking about." With a flash of purple light in front of him, Calvin found himself staring at the boy who was behind him seconds ago. Calvin turned his head and then looked back at the purple haired boy.

"Teleporter," the kid said, extending his hand, "Name's Jesse Queen."

"As in Queen Industries?

"One in the same," Jesse replied

"So you're some spoiled rich kid?" Calvin asked.

"I claim that title as much as you claim to be Super…"

"I'm not Superman!" Calvin bellowed.

"My other friend, he's a little," Jesse made a circular motion around his ear, "anyway, you already met him. Pale guy, has the ability to hold up a jet liner that is falling out of the sky. He ring a bell? Any who, he's a telepath. Got a snippet of a name, Calvin Lark. So my sister, she looked for you too. Wouldn't you know it, you were in the same spot as Superman."

"What do you want?"

"You're Superman's kid. We need your help," Jesse answered, "and for you to put on a shirt."

"Superman wasn't my father," Calvin said, "just a role model."

"Well," the other boy said, "can you at least put a shirt on? Civilian, if you've got it."

"Like I come to school in my underwear?"

* * *

After changing into dryer clothes, Calvin walked out of the stall, pulling a red hoody over the blue and red "S" shield. He adjusted his glasses as he approached the boy with the purple hair, and smiled. They looked out of place together. Where as Jesse looked like he was ready to rock out at a concert somewhere, Calvin looked like he was going to the library.

"Okay," Calvin said as he approached the odd kid, "let's go."

Jesse put his arm on Calvin's shoulder, and grasped tight. Instantly, a bright flash filled his eyes, forcing the Teen of Tomorrow to shut them against the violent onslaught of purple light.

"Rub it out," Jesse said as he pulled his hand off of Calvin, "it always gets people the first couple of times the port." Calvin did as he was advised, opening his eyes to see the view an apartment tower 60 feet off the ground offered.

"So, this is Superman," a girl's voice called out from a hallway, "I thought he'd be, I don't know, less geeky."

"Thanks," Calvin sarcastically retorted as another boy, this one with black hair, walked into the room.

"Cal," Jesse interrupted, "this is Riley Queen, my sister. And that's Charlie. You two met earlier."

"So, what is this," Calvin asked, "some kind of superhero club?"

"More or less," Charlie answered, "have you ever heard that humans can only tap into ten percent of their brains?" Calvin nodded as Charlie continued, "Well, a growing portion of the human population can reach deeper. They can do things, like Jesse's teleporting or Riley's seeking."

"There's a group of people out there that claim to help people like us by teaching us how to control these abilities," Riley continued, "they call themselves the Brain Trust. But they don't let people in on their master plan. Otherwise parents would never send their kids off to these people."

"They want to dominate the weaker minded people," Jesse continued, "and they've been abducting victims for awhile. About twenty years ago, three of their numbers got into an accident involving telepathy, fusing their abilities and minds together. It's a freaky little thing going on in their heads, but they figured that they can increase the power of the brain trust members by combining them, making an ultimate trusty."

"Recently," Charlie continued, "they found evidence of a boy in Metropolis who could reactively adapt to any threat, perceived or otherwise. He's ultimately un-killable. Obviously, this is what they are looking for their super-solider."

"So, I'm here because?" Calvin asked, pointing to the girl, "Can't she find him?"

"No," Riley replied, "The Trust tried to have me find him. Since I knew he was being threatened, he reacted and I couldn't get a name for the boy. But he is here in Metropolis. I know that."

"And as much as Chuck hates to admit it," Jesse said, "we need your help if we are to stop Edgar, the one in three guy."

"How come?"

"Because one of the minds is a pyrokinetic," Charlie answered, "and I can't be near fire like you can't be near Kryptonite."

"Like that Martian Manhunter dude," Calvin asked. Charlie looked up and smiled. As he did, his skin reverted to his albino color.

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, Superman," Charlie began, "Real name is K'harli J'onzz. The green guy's my dad."

"So you're not a victim in this?"

"It's more like being a good friend," Jesse protested, "Half of the Justice League thinks the Trust is just a myth. No one is giving a damn about bringing these guys down. Most of us can't alone. Charlie is a lot of muscle on this team, and it's a loosing fight."

"It doesn't matter what your back story is," Charlie said, "If you think we should have a gimmick to be a reason that keeps us, I guess we're just a bunch of motley oddballs."

"You know the city better then the rest of us," Riley changed the subject, trying to cool off the guys, "if you see Edgar, you'll know what he is looking for."

"Give us a call," Charlie said as he tossed a small walkie-talkie towards the Teen of Steel, "if you see anything."

* * *

"So they're all looking for a kid who can't be found?" Mike said as he typed away at the laptop in their room.

"And what's worse," Calvin noted, "They have three telepathic, telekinetic, pyrokinetic maniacs looking for this kid as well."

"Well, looking for missing kids," Mike noted, "that's noble."

"Yeah, but the funny thing is, they don't seem to like the League that much."

"With good reason," Mike said as he tapped into the database, "ever Google these guys? You won't believe the nut jobs on a message board devoted to conspiracies about the 11 and ups. It's not just rogue groups that have some ulterior motive: government funded schools, secret paramilitary organizations under old mansions, real nut job stuff. If you weren't teleported halfway across the city, I wouldn't believe it."

"You have a poster that reads "Roswell: Tell the Truth!'" Calvin said, gesturing to a poster of a typical alien face over a desert.

"Aliens, I can believe. I practically share a room with one. People moving stuff with their mind, that's hard to swallow."

"You're unbelievable."

"Changing the subject," Mike said as he tapped away at the computer, "mom was up here going through you're things when I got home. Any reason for that?"

"Same call she got two years ago, perhaps," Calvin speculated.

"Did the call have the same truth behind it?"

"I've been clean since then. I just can't swim slower with the splice."

"You know, coach can test for splicing chemicals in you're blood. They would still be present."

"I know, but I'm not trying to cheat."

"But you are," Mike reminded, "Calvin, you can be Superman all you want and save the world a zillion times, but trying not to be your best doesn't won't make it fair."

"You think I should quit?" Calvin questioned.

"I don't know," Mike answered, "but, if Shuster wants you to be tested, you'll be forced out."

* * *

The wind blew threw his brown hair as Calvin stood overlooking the city below him. From a one hundred and twenty story tower, he could see well beyond the city limits, into the states rural areas. He looked down below as a siren sound blasted into the night. Below were the pedestrian streets, elevated after the destruction caused by Darkseid. Below was the screaming police car, following a fast sports car. Calvin jumped off the building.

He intended to fly forward, following the car until he could find away in without causing too much property damage. But he didn't slope. He fell straight down. He couldn't fly. The ground sped up to him as he broke the cloud line. Arms flailed as he passed the final twenty stories at terminal velocity. The ground grew closer as the boy closed his eyes for the impact.

"Ahhh!" Calvin screamed as he sat up, throwing his bed sheets off of him. He looked around a dark room, cold sweat chilling him. The boy looked at his hands. They were shaking, hard.

* * *

"When I was a freshman," Calvin told the class of sixth graders in front of him, "there was a big jock culture at my school. If you were on a team, you had respect. So I joined the swim team. And I sucked. I really sucked in the water. And it was obvious. One of the upper classmen, he saw what I was going through, and offered me a type of performance enhancing drug he called Boost. He had been taking it, and he was one of the team's stars. I wanted to get good, without the work, so I started taking it. And I got better. I mean really better. It was noticeable."

"See, Boost starts rapidly developing muscles. And for someone like me, who hadn't seriously played a sport, it was obvious something was up just by looking at me. My coach had his suspicions, and he began going through my locker. I was busted pretty bad. My father took it very hard, thought he had raised me better, and really was upset. Mom didn't know how to take it."

"Now, the thing I didn't know about Boost was that it was hard to come off and perform well. My coach was too much of a softy to kick me off the team, and he knew I was really ashamed. He allowed me to stay, letting me know I had hurt myself more then anyone else. The workouts didn't change, they got really tough. It was harder. Everything I relied on while on Boost, and then some, was gone. I almost quit a number of times, but it was always the second chance that kept me on. I blew my first shot, and I wasn't doing that again."

He stopped and looked at the kids, all of them hanging onto his every word. Even Justin, who normally kept a low interest in the classes, was on the edge of his seat. Calvin looked over to Linda, who seemed a little shocked. He had never really told her, and he was quite certain that she had forgotten the time away from social life that being grounded had offered him.

"Thank-you, Cal," She said, diving into her own story, "My older brother, Joey, he started going out with friends, playing games at the arcade. Then, he began staying out for nights at a time, playing VR games like they were real life…"

* * *

Thirty minutes later, the bell rang and the kids, who had fired off a slew of questions about the topic of drugs and the peer pressure associated with them, silently walked out of the class. Linda looked at Calvin, who was staring up at the tall buildings of the Metropolis skyline.

"The plane falls," She said, "We talk."

"That's my story," Calvin said, knowing there was more.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked.

"What reason was there to tell you?" Calvin said, "Look, I was ashamed while I was on, and I was really guilty when I came off."

"And you thought I would look at you differently, right?"

"It was a low point, and I doubted the people I knew," He answered, "The guy who gave me the stuff was someone I trusted, and I felt betrayed. It was like that time you told me you were b…"

"Excuse me," a voice interrupted. Both of the peer educators turned to see Justin in the doorway. He walked slowly in and looked at Calvin, "I wanted to know if I could have a second chance."

"A second chance for what?" Linda asked, looking at the tan boy in front of them.

"To tell you what is special about me," He answered.

"Sure," Calvin replied, "you can tell us."

"Okay," Justin began, taking a deep breath, "My name is Justin, I went to West Brook, and I am special because I can't die."

"What?" Linda asked with a confused look on her face, as Calvin's grew wide with shock at what was just being said. The boy turned and ran out of the door, slamming it as he exited. "Cal, what did he mean by that?"

"I'll find out," Calvin said as he followed the kid with his x-ray vision. He took a deep breath, and walked through the halls, and out to the back of the building, where he had been yesterday to stop the plane. He found the kid sitting behind one of the metal cubes. "Stinks back here, doesn't it?"

"Are you asking about the thing I said in the classroom?" Justin asked, hugging his knees close to his body, "Because I walked out of the door. It has to stay in the class room."

"If you don't want to talk about it," Calvin answered, "I won't."

"Just like you won't talk about being Superman?"

"Excuse me?" Calvin replied, confused about how the kid jumped to a conclusion.

"Yesterday after class," Justin began, "some kids were hassling me in the bathroom right there." He pointed to a brick wall, which Calvin x-rayed to find that there was a boy's room on the other side.

"I hid in one of the stalls, and just kept pressing backwards until I hit the wall," Justin continued, "The next thing I knew, I was outside, right there. And I saw you take off in the Superman suit."

"Is that your only power, Justin?" Calvin asked, "To walk threw things?"

"No," Justin answered, "a few days ago, I was running from the same kids, when I rounded a corner and turned invisible. Every time something bad happens to me, my body does something new. Like my body is, I don't know…"

"Reacting?" Calvin finished, remembering his meeting yesterday. His eyes grew wider as the second word came to mind, "Adapting?"

"Yeah," Justin agreed as Calvin looked at him.

"Justin," Calvin said, his voice taking on the Superman tone as it grew more serious, "you said upstairs that you couldn't be killed. Have you ever been in a situation where that actually happened?"

Justin's eyes grew wide as he quickly looked away. He stood up and started to move out from behind the dumpster. "Justin, I need to know."

"My dad wasn't well," Justin said, not bothering to look at Calvin.

"What?"

"My dad wasn't well," Justin repeated, "one night, he and mom got into a big fight. He had a gun and… and…" His voice broke as he moved a sleeve to his eyes and wiped them.

"It's okay," Calvin said, getting up from his seat on the ground.

"Then he came for me," Justin continued, "I was under my covers. I didn't see anything, but it was loud. I felt it hit me, but there was no pain, like it didn't go in. Then there was another shot, and a loud thud…" He trailed off as Calvin approached him.

"I have some friends who want to help you," Calvin said, "Do you want to meet them with me after school?"

"Sure," Justin said through teary eyes.

* * *

"Well that was lucky," Mike said as Calvin told him about Justin, "and according to this, his story checks out. Justin Sanchez, age twelve, orphaned when his father murdered committed a murder/suicide two years ago."

"And he's the kid Charlie and co. have been looking for," Calvin reminded the group of Mike and Linda. They had been using the resources in the news paper room, which were some of the finest in the school, to look up corroborating evidence to the kid's story.

"And he just told you this after he ran out on us?" Linda asked, "He seemed like he didn't want to talk about it."

"Yeah, well," Calvin began, "once we established a bit of Superpower bonding…"

"You told him you wear the S?" Linda hissed.

"No," Calvin asserted through clenched teeth, "he figured it out on his own. He saw me fly off to save that plane. He knew going into class."

"So he told us, as a way of telling Superman," Linda contemplated, "Calvin, have you ever considered that he doesn't need protecting?"

"What are you getting at?"

"Well, if he needed protecting, he would have asked for Superman directly," Linda explained, "I think he just wanted someone who could understand and help him with what he's going through."

"So you think he told me because he needed to know how to deal with walking through walls?" Calvin asked, confused, "That isn't on my resume.

"No," Linda noted, "but he has no one to look up to. Everyone in this city sees you as a hero to look for in the sky. He doesn't need you to save him, he needs you to show him the right way. An example. What Superman means to so many is his example, not his strength."

"What ever he needs," Mike chimed in, "it isn't help. No police records about him other then his parents. He can take care of himself."

"I just take him to Charlie," Calvin said as he grabbed a tan jacket and walked to the door, "we figure out what happens after that."

* * *

They sat in the train car alone. No one came in occupied mag-train cars, it was easier to find an unoccupied one. And often times, easier to be alone. Justin looked out the window as the train crossed the river, and watched the ships dart on the sparkling blue water. "Why don't we just fly?" He asked, looking back at Calvin, who sat stoically with his glasses on, "You're Superman, we don't need to deal with rush hour traffic."

"I want to keep a low profile in all this," Calvin said as the kid sat back down in his seat, "I think me flying over Metropolis Bay with a twelve year old in my arms would be a little odd."

"So," Justin asked, "why do you spend all this time helping people you don't know? If I had your powers, I'd be doing other things with my time. I just want to be left alone about it."

"Guess it's the right thing to do," Calvin answered.

"That's what I don't get," Justin stated, "It's always up to the people with powers to make the changes. Metropolis went down hill when the first Superman died. They say he was an example, but nobody followed it once he was gone."

"I tried to follow it," Calvin said as the train sped over the shore of New Troy, "Others do as well, but no one can do everything. The world still needs the example of Superman, someone who represents the best humanity has to offer. I'd like to think I do my best, but I'm still one guy."

"Did you hear something?" Justin asked, as he stood up and looked at the roof of the train car. Calvin looked up and began to filter out useless sounds. A series slow, metallic pings crossed above them.

"It sounds like foot prints," Calvin said as he x-rayed the ceiling. Above them where several men dressed in what looked like ninja attire. Above them, three figures floated in the air: A dark skinned man with corn rows, a middle aged woman with her black hair in a thick bun, and the silver haired man from the plane attack. One of the ninja's drew a sword from his hilt and held it point-parallel with the ceiling, as it ignited with a green energy. "Justin," Calvin yelled as he leapt towards the boy, grabbing him in his arms, "down!"

A flash of heat blew down from the roof and into the train car, burning away most of the teenager's clothing. When the explosive energy subsided, Calvin stood up and as the remains of his street clothes fell away from the outfit underneath. Justin, however, was unharmed although he seemed covered in a leathery skin. As Superman backed away, the younger boy's skin turned back to normal. The Teen of Steel turned as one of the ninja's dropped into the car, brandishing his high tech sword. Calvin picked the man up by his shirt, and slammed him into the wall of the compartment. The guy dropped his sword from the force of the impact, but it wasn't the only thing to fall. On either side of the two men, two identical ninja's appeared against the wall, and fell to the floor, each holding an energy sword. Superman lifted the first guy and swung him into the second, causing both to disappear. He turned to the third and fired a blast of heat vision, which punched the man straight threw the doors and into a banister on the track line.

Two more ninjas dropped in, but Calvin caught them before impact and flew them into the air and out of the car, depositing them on either side of the gash one of the energy katana's had made. The Superman looked up at the three entities floating in the air, "Edgar, I presume," He asked the three.

"You are correct child," the silver haired man said.

"So, is that," Calvin began, motioning to the group of five ninja's behind him, "all one guy too?"

"Ditto is a respected member," The woman answered, "he provides a good deal of muscle, and is pretty good with his weapons."

"We only want the boy," the other man remarked, "you served your part finding him."

"Then we have a problem," Calvin retorted, "because I'm keeping him away from you freaks."

The Edgars were visibly angry at this statement, each raising the hands above their heads, and swiftly bringing them level with Superman's chest, discharging a massive amount of blue plasma that sent the Teen of Tomorrow flying backwards, colliding three cars down with the top of the train. The three opponents flew over while more of the ninjas leapt into the busted car.

"That is why we want him," the silver haired Edgar responded, "to protect him from people like you who have no idea what it is like to be different." He raised his hands to fire, but Calvin quickly rolled over, dodging a blast that struck inches away in slow motion. With a force that rattled the train's windows, Calvin rocketed himself at the other man, and slammed him into the front most car. The roof caved, and the man fell into the cabin, which was occupied by several surprised tourists. As Calvin straitened up and looked down the end of the car, two more fireballs flew towards him.

Inside the car, the ditto ninjas were having trouble pinning down Justin. Every attempt was rebuffed with a perfect counter attempt. Each energy blast succeeded in turning the boy's skin into a substance that was fire proof. Every sword that connected broke against a durable steel like skin. Even punches where met with intangibility, or otherwise deflected accurately, tossing several out of the moving train and onto the elevated tracks. Finally, one of the ninja's made a quick gesture, firing two very small grey squares at the boy, each attached by a small wire. The device connected with Justin's skull, and he screamed in pain as a shrill sound filled his brain. "Hear that?" The ninja asked, "It's a synaptic drainer. Any attempt at rational thinking will be met with a painful in cohesion of thought. And since your powers are based on your mentality, you won't be fighting back."

The blue plasma blasts connected and exploded with Superman, thrusting him backwards onto the track. He landed several feet in front of the first car as he shook off the assault. Getting to his feet, he raced towards the oncoming train and, at the last possible second, leapt into the air. With a small boom, he flew towards the woman and the silver haired man, holding out his hands to grab both in the torso. The man's eyes flashed green as Calvin's flight began to wobble. As he approached, he veered off course, slamming into a concrete pillar and kicking up a large dust cloud.

The Ditto ninja jumped out of the hole in the train roof, carrying his prize. As he did, the third Edgar floated out of the first car and regrouped. "We have what we came for," the woman said as she grabbed the boy and flung his body over her shoulder, "let's go." The man with the cornrows picked up the ninja and joined in formation with the other two as they flew off into the sky.

* * *

"You lost him?" Charlie yelled. Calvin had just flown into the high rise apartment, and hadn't said a word. He didn't even bother to change back into civilian, rather get word out ASAP. The boy landed in the middle of the apartment room as the rest of the oddballs looked over to him.

"Three of them," Calvin huffed, "all able to hold their own against me. What did you want me to do?"

"How did Edgar find them?" Jesse asked, rather concerned.

"I guess he figured to keep tabs on Superman," Charlie speculated, "when the boy was accompanied by Calvin, Edgar saw."

"Can't Riley find them?" Calvin asked.

"No," Riley said, "Edgar will appear as three independent individuals due to the mental fracture. They'd be in three places at once, any of them holding the kid."

"And the Dittos are even more spread out," Charlie added, "they could be in hundreds of locations globally at the same time."

"So we're stuck," Calvin noted, "is that it?"

"We could find them in an old fashion way," Jesse said, "get out and look."

"If they anticipated Superman," Charlie noted, "they would have moved to a lead building."

"So we look for Trust holdings with lead," Riley suggested.

"You can do that?" Calvin asked.

"Should be able to," She replied. Her eyes glowed yellow as she looked at a map of the city on her computer. As she did, a cell phone rang in the silent room. Calvin pulled out the phone and opened it.

"Mike, is it important?"

"Saw you on the news just now," The voice on the other end answered, "and I figured you would want a way to track down those guys."

"I've got a girl who can find just about anything on it," Calvin replied, "So if you have something better…"

"A case in 2054," Mike interrupted, "some of your guys were arrested after trying to smuggle a girl out of the country on a yacht licensed to Steven Mandragora, a turn of the century crime boss."

"And that helps because?" Calvin asked.

"Steven was Edgar's father," Mike answered, "it's one of the earliest cases on the conspiracy sites. Edgar was abducted while in Europe. His father sent several of his best men to recover the boy, but Edgar was already corrupted when he was brought State Side. When his father got out of prison, Edgar killed him and stole his fortune, building up the Trust's funds. Most of the yachts and what have you are still licensed to his father."

"There's no Trust owned building," Riley stated to the room at large, "at least not with lead in it."

"Check for yachts owned by Mandragora," Calvin advised, "lead might not be an issue."

Riley's eyes flashed yellow once again. When the color faded, she looked up at Calvin, "There are five," She calmly stated, "one is just leaving from Hell's Gate."

* * *

"Let me go," Justin yelled as he slammed his fists against the metal door.

"Kid," Ditto addressed the guy as he flipped a page in the book he was reading, "I went through so much trouble to get you down here. I'm not going to just let you go. Enjoy the boat ride."

"At least take these things off me," Justin ordered, tapping the small metal squares on his forehead, "They hurt."

Ditto got out of his seat and walked towards the door. He bent down and tapped his fingers under the crack and a flash of light burst forth from them into the locked room. Inside the light solidified into an exact copy of the ninja, which stood up and walked towards the boy. As he did, Ditto drew his sword and thruster it towards the child. "No one said that you had to be alive when we got there," the copy noted, "They can study the corpse you leave behind just as well, so I suggest you stop bothering me and shut up. Letting you live is as nice as I'm going to get."

Several decks up, the woman walked into the bridge of the large boat, "Can't this thing go any faster?" She asked "I don't want that Superman wannabe to find us."

"Don't worry," the blonde haired man at the helm said, "he couldn't possibly find us."

"He found the boy in a city of people once," The man with silver hair noted as he stepped in, "he can do it again."

"Don't let it be your famous last words," a new voice calmly ordered. A whooshing sound echoed through the cabin as purple arrow flew in and loudly exploded in a flash of light. The people in the room turned to see a boy wearing a purple pull over sweatshirt as the door shut. Behind them was another flash of light and a whooshing sound, followed by a spray of green gas around them. "I'd bet you'd like to know that door is airtight and locked," Jesse said as he disappeared in another flash of light.

As the pilot and Edgars fell to the ground, a light by the radar counsel flashed violently. On the screen, two objects were fast approaching.

Jesse appeared on the deck and looked up towards the northern sky. Flying in from the city was a boy with brown hair, in a blue get-up, followed by a girl with brown hair riding a snake-like white dragon. As the group landed, the girl slid off the dragon, which changed back into a more human appearance of an albino boy. "Take out the wackoes?" She asked her brother.

"Ditto wasn't with the rest, and I've never been good at taking him anyway," Jesse noted, "We'll still have a fight, but not as bad as one with Edgar. They'll be out for hours." As soon as he spoke the words, an explosion ripped apart the front of the ship. The team on the back of the boat watched as three figures floated up with the smoke.

"If it wasn't for the fact that the attack just got worse," Charlie mused, "I'd find that funny. You know, just your luck and all."

Behind them, a thunder roared as a blue red streak passed over head. Superman came to the first of the silver haired Edgar and delivered a powerful punch to his face, sending the man flying backwards. Towards the bow of the ship. Jesse pulled an arrow out of his quiver and aimed at the woman, "What he said," He yelled as the arrow flew and exploded on contact.

"Jesse," Riley yelled as she pulled her brother towards the boat's interior, "that isn't helping." Her words were defended slightly by a misaimed blast, owing to Calvin's intervention, "see, we need to find Justin." They rushed inside as Jesse pulled an arrow to his bow. They rounded a corner and came face to face with one of the Dittos. Riley tossed a punch at the man, who caught it as three more copies formed around him. He tossed the girl to the ground and turned around as in time to see an arrow flying towards him. It exploded in a wall of foam, and solidified around the three ninjas.

"That didn't help," Jesse said as he materialized over his sister. He helped to her feet, and then teleported to the other side of the men, continuing their flight down the halls.

Charlie was already in the boat, phasing through the walls looking for the boy. He passed into several rooms until he solidified in front of a group of Ditto ninjas, all brandishing the energy swords towards him. With a burst of speed, Charlie stretched his body and began phasing threw the different clones, solidifying as he passed halfway, causing the victim to fall. One of the ninjas sliced towards him, forcing Charlie backwards until passed through the wall, and into the room where Justin was being held, landing on his back. Above him, another ninja held the sword close to the albino boy's body, causing the heat to incapacitate him. "Don't move," Ditto told him.

Calvin slammed the woman into the back of the boat, splintering the wood on impact. Pulling himself out of the debris, he flew off towards the Edgar with the cornrows, halfway up, the eyes of his target flashed green, and Calvin's world began to start spinning. He lost altitude, and plowed through the ship's interior, coming to a stop right in front of Jesse and Riley. The three foes regrouped, and floated into the dark hallway behind the brother and sister. The woman grabbed the girl by her hair as Jesse backed away, pulling an arrow out of his quiver. "Don't," The silver haired Edgar said, "don't even port, or she gets it."

"I'm too valuable to the Trust to have them kill me," Riley sneered, "Run Jess." But Jesse instead fell to the ground, his bow and arrow dropping. Riley looked back at the woman who was holding her. Her eyes were glowing green. Edgar didn't expect Jesse to stay put, but the expected him to stall.

* * *

Calvin's eyes flickered open as the room focused into view. All three of the Edgars, and about five of the Dittos stood in front of them. On the floor was a steel stock, holding Justin in place. Calvin looked up and saw that every member of the party was shackled to the walls by a metallic cuff. He tried to break it apart, but couldn't summon up the energy.

"Nice little toys, right Superman?" The woman said, moving towards Calvin. She tapped him on his forehead, or rather, some square on his forehead, "Synaptic drainers. Any time you try to use your powers they drain all your mental energy, leaving you with no strength for the job." Calvin looked over to the rest of the group, all of whom had the devices on their heads.

"I have a bargain for you, Charlie," the man with the cornrows stated. As he approached the Martian hybrid, the man with the silver hair held up a small golden item, almost like a coin, "the Kuru pendant. The one J'on J'onzz left for his son, K'harli J'onzz, to find on his Journey of Souls. The reason why you came into our fight in the first place."

"What is that?" Calvin weakly asked.

"When Charlie met us," Jesse explained, "he was looking for that thing. It's a collection of memories from his father's family. The last time we tried to take it from the Trust, Riley was captured."

"You have a good memory," the silver haired Edgar noted, "K'harli, no more bad blood, no more fighting. I'll give you this to walk away. You can take your friends. Leave us, and we'll give it to you. We're just trying to protect little Justin."

"And you're not protecting me?" Riley mocked, "I'm hurt."

The woman's face scowled, "I'll leave the offer on the table," She said, "talk it over amongst yourselves." The group walked towards the door.

"Wait!" Jesse yelled, "We'll take the offer."

"What?" Charlie yelled.

"The offers simple," Jesse explained, "you want Charlie to be miserable if he escapes with Justin, and you want us to suffer if he doesn't take the pendant. Give him the stupid thing, and take Justin. It isn't worth it."

"Jess," Charlie turned to his friend, "This isn't what any of us want…"

"But it's what you want," Jesse retorted, "It's the reason you've formed our little group. You were going to leave as soon as that thing surfaced." He then turned to the woman, "give it to me then, if he doesn't want it."

"Okay," the woman said as she approached Jesse's braces. She pressed a button, and he fell to the floor. Almost as if he was drunk, Jesse stood up. Then, suddenly, he grasped the woman's head. She let out a scream, coupled with the other two Edgar's as they fell to the floor. The Dittos began to walk towards the purple haired boy, pulling their swords. "Justin," Jesse yelled, "now."

Cracks began to form in the metal braces that held the twelve year old into the device. Then, with a great motion, the steel shattered, and Justin pushed himself out of the remains of the stocks. The ninjas turned to face the new threat as Jesse grabbed the synaptic drainer off of Calvin's head. Free from the mental constrain, Calvin pulled himself loose from the physical one as Jesse tossed the device onto the nearest Ditto, who had the same reaction, as did his multiple counter parts. As he fell to the ground, the rest faded from existence.

"What happened?" Calvin asked, bemused at the idea of how quickly the favor of the battle shifted.

"Before the attack," Jesse explained as Calvin pulled off the devices from Charlie and Riley, "I snuck in here and removed these thingies from Justin. Just in case we couldn't bust them out, we still had Justin to save our asses. When the Kuru pendant was offered, I figured it was the closest shot we had to taking out the Edgars we had had in a while, and I changed the game plan."

Riley bent down to the floor and picked up the gold coin. "Well, Charlie," She said, giving it to him, "you got the Kuru pendant."

Charlie took the device and looked at it. He then let it drop to the floor, crushing it under his foot, "Looks like they were trying to pull one over us too," He said as he lifted his foot off the shattered medallion, "that was a fake. They still have the real pendant."

"Then we'll still look for it," Calvin said, as the others turned to face him.

"Thanks for helping, Cal," Charlie replied, holding out his hand to shake, "but Metropolis still needs a Superman. But, if you need our help, consider yourself part of the team."

"That's a two way street," Calvin said, taking the Martian boy's hand.

* * *

"So, the Bureau of Meta-human affairs decided that Justin need some people to help him with his powers," Calvin informed the others in his bed room, upon returning from the days events, "turns out that Charlie has a sort of persuasion on the suits, and convinced them that Justin would benefit from their own organization."

"They have an organization?" Linda asked, "Since when?"

"Since they made it up on the spot," Calvin said, "The Oddballs. There going to start some sort of school for these people. Open to public scrutiny, unlike the Trust."

"Cool," Mike said, "so the Martian gave up on getting his little memory thingy?"

"Well, off the books," Calvin smiled, "they have a few funds diverted to bringing the Trust down."

"Sweet," Mike said.

"Well," Linda said, "on to more pressing matters: Your mom wants you to take out the garbage."

"Actually, she wanted me to take them out," Mike said, "but we were kind of, well, busy."

"Gone," Calvin quickly announced, leaving the room and slamming the door shut. He collected the black plastic bags downstairs, and took them out to the cans outside. Besides the cans, a man stood, wearing a tan hat and overcoat, "I thought you had your proof that I was Superman, Ryder," The boy sarcastically greeted the man, "you don't need to go through my trash."

"Just adding something to it," Ryder said, pulling a disk out from his coat, "are you aware that the magnet trains keep camera's in the compartments? When we finished with the investigation of your little fight on the train, we disposed of the evidence." Ryder grasped the disk with two hands and split it into two pieces.

"So, keeping stuff from Uncle Sam?"

"I told you, I'm not allowed to reveal your identity. Nor anyone's for that matter. Let's talk about your dreams now."

"Don't here about that from government," Calvin said as he placed the bags in the can, and replaced the lids, "but seeing as how every time we have one of these chats, you turn out to be a figment of my imagination, I can see how you are interested. Nothing major, just one where I couldn't fly when every thing else suggested I could. Unless it's prophetic, I don't see the harm."

"Have you had any reason to doubt your skills would work?" Ryder asked.

"No, but I don't see what the problem is…"

"There is no problem. Remember that," Ryder informed, "In this line of work, sometimes that is all that separates the nightmares from the reality."

"You're a fine one…" Calvin began, looking over to the agent, who had disappeared from the spot he was standing, "…to talk. Great, my hallucinations are telling me I'm sane."

* * *

"No dear, I'll be late," Daniel said into his phone as he stepped off the elevator, "Mr. Luthor wants to see me. Yes, I'll tell him. Alright, I love you. Bye." The balding man rounded the corner, where Abigail was sitting at her desk.

"One moment," She said as she pressed a button on her phone, "Mr. Luthor, Dr. Lark is here to see you."

"Send him in," The voice replied back. Abigail made a gesture to the door, which the Doctor walked right through, shutting it behind him.

"Sir, I wanted to talk to you about your offer the other day," Daniel informed the man in front of him, breathing heavily as he did, "I accept."

"Excellent," Lex said, folding his hands together, "I'll make plans to begin tonight. I'm glad you had a change of heart, Dr. Lark. After all, this is all about your family."

* * *

Calvin walked back into the living room from the kitchen with an apple and a knife, and turned on the Vid Screen. He sat down on the couch, and looked watched the show that was on. He didn't care, he just needed background noise. He began to peel away the skin of the apple, slowly carving off the reddish yellow, to reveal the white interior of the fruit. Suddenly, there was a sharp prick on the wrist of his hand the apple was in. Calvin adjusted himself to see what the source of the pain was. As he moved the knife to put it out of the way on the table, he looked at the blade. A deep red liquid covered it. He dropped the fruit and looked at his wrist.

A large gash had been cut into his rest. Calvin began to slowly breathe harder, his heart racing in conjunction with each gush of bright red blood that issued from the wound. He stood up, and began to feel faint, falling to the floor as the world grew dark.

His eyes opened, glimpsing a view of the dark bed room that was available from the gap of covers. Calvin sat up and looked at his wrists. No cut, no scar, nothing. He looked out the window, trying to place the sight out of mind.


	6. Where Blind Men See: Part One

**Journal of a Superman**

By S.P. Bley

Where Blind Men See: Part One

On a clear night like this one, it was normal for Calvin to be unable to distinguish the stars in the sky from the lights of the city. They were both so frequent and so numerous, that it was as if he was flying through space at that very moment, gliding through a sea of blackness, with only the majesty of a million tiny lighthouses guiding him.

But tonight was different. Tonight, Calvin was not flying, but falling. The lights of the sky faded, one by one, disappearing into the darkness overhead. Below him, like a brilliant sunrise, the lights of the city grew increasingly brighter as he descended closer and closer to them. He broke the cloud line, and the stars all but vanished. The impossibly high towers sped up to meet the boy, their lights now surrounding him as the pavement below rushed ever closer. Darkness.

Calvin's eyes flickered around the sun room as golden beams of the first morning light entered from every possible crevice. He heaved a sigh as he looked at the clock on his wall. His mind had frightened him into waking one hour early. He groaned as he shut his eyes against the annoying sunlight.

* * *

He tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes as he pulled his locker open, but sleep just wouldn't go away. He could only open them for a strained, few seconds before Calvin was forced to shut them out of pain. He quickly looked down at his watch, hoping to get a glimpse of the time, only to be interrupted by a yawn.

"You look like hell," a voice commented. Calvin turned around, getting a glimpse of the speaker, a short, dark skinned girl before his eyes forced themselves shut.

"Thanks, Cree," Calvin sarcastically said between yawns, "haven't been sleeping well."

"I can see that," She said, "what's been up?"

"Nightmares," Calvin quickly answered, "the recurring kind."

"Want to talk about it?"

"It's the dream where you're falling, and you wake up at the last possible second."

"Well, keep waking up," Cree joked, "you die if you actually hit the ground."

"Not helping," Calvin noted, "so, what brings you to my neck of the woods?"

"I was in the mood to see a movie Friday night," Cree said, "and was wondering if you would like to join me."

"Well," Calvin said, "I would, but it seems, well…"

"…Out of place?" Cree finished, "Lark, it's not the 90s. Do you want to come or not?"

* * *

"You're avoiding me," Holly said, as she began to walk much faster, keeping up with Linda's long legs, "You haven't said a word to me since you returned my car, now what's going on?"

"I told you, Holly," Linda said, continuing her weaving through the morning crowd, "we're done. You left over the summer, and I've moved on."

"So does he know?"

"You know," Linda said, matter-of-factly, "you really need to tell me the subject of the pronouns."

"You know I'm talking about Calvin," She said, "does he know?"

"Ugh, Holly," Linda said with a disgusted face, "Cal is a friend. I'm not interested in him."

"You wanted to drive him to the hospital yourself," Holly noted, "in my car so you could get him there faster."

"Like I would if it was one of my brothers that was attacked by a psychopathic Supergirl," Linda protested, "and that's all he'll ever mean to me."

"So does he know?"

"Yes."

"And do your brothers?"

"Holly, this isn't exactly winning me over."

"Do they?"

"No."

"Seeing as how I'm the only other person you've ever told," Holly mused, "and we both know how far that relationship went, why is Calvin any different?"

"Because unlike you," Linda said, "I know I can have feelings for friends without sex being involved."

"You had feelings for me," Holly reminded.

"But with you," Linda noted, "it was all about sex."

* * *

"Magnificent, isn't it, Doctor?" Lex said as he looked at what appeared to be a large steal casket. Only a trace purple green color could be seen through the ice on the only window looking in. Luthor was smiling, watching as the crane lowered it down to the stainless steal floor. Daniel looked in horror at the device, the shear size intimidating him.

"What's in there?" He timidly asked.

"That," Luthor told the balding doctor, "is a treasure trove of knowledge from another world or, to be correct, another universe."

"That's a little hard for me to believe, sir," Daniel noted as he watched the item lowered to the floor.

"The United States government thought the same thing," Luthor explained, "until the threshold was crossed. In their world, I was president of the United States, and I had pre-empted a war with China, using a tactical nuclear strike. Needless to say, the loss of life affected Superman, and he ended mine in a vain attempt to save their world."

"Of course, up until that point, our worlds had been indistinguishable from one another," the bald man continued, "I was still infected with the Brainiac nanites. When their Superman killed that version of me, Brainiac, still weak, uploaded the nanotech robots into that Superman, and in turn, infected the league. They came to this world, and, after standing off with our Justice League, where de-powered and imprisoned back in the parallel universe."

"When I disappeared in the battle against Darksied, I was sent through several realities, this future being one of them. By the time I arrived, Brainiac had managed to transfer genetic information, still intact within the member's cells into his own nanotech body. The result, well, was bad. A creation with the combined might of the original Justice League. It took the combined efforts of a good many rebels to bring this Brainiac down. The end result was this bio-weapon, a super solider unlike anything the world had ever seen."

"And you want me to reverse engineer the splicing formula?" Daniel asked, "Are you aware of the Pandora's box we will be opening?"

"There is a lot of good that can come from your findings," Luthor noted, "such as soldiers that can't die. Cures for cancer. A way to keep people from dying ever again."

"And a way to turn it into a weapon," Daniel observed, "I don't think I can do this to my family again."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Lex said as he reached into his coat pocket. Daniel could have sworn he saw a blinding flash of light as the bald man pulled out a PDA, "Are you sure you want to leave us?"

"No," Daniel found himself saying. He looked back at the large device, "no I'm not."

* * *

"So, the freak thinks you and I are more then friends," Linda reported as she took spoonfuls of soup from the Styrofoam cup she bought from the vending machines, "and is now comparing our relationships. The woman is freakin' jealous."

"And what logic does Holly have for this assumption?" Calvin asked as he bit into his own sandwich. As he put the bread down, he looked across the cafeteria, noticing the girl with the short blonde hair who had inspired the conversation.

"More importantly," Mike interrupted, "how did she miss us at the dance?"

"She didn't actually go inside," Linda confirmed, "she just saw us carrying Cal out."

"He has a point though," Calvin interjected, "didn't you tell her Mike asked you?"

"Yeah," Linda said, "spitefully."

"So why is she taken with me being your bf?" Cal asked.

"And what happened to me?" Mike added.

"She's delusional," Linda answered, looking at Calvin. She then turned to Mike to answer his question, "You're delusional."

"That's a great way to solve your problems," Calvin joked, "the rest of the world is insane."

"Is that your explanation for those nightmares?" Mike teased. Only when he looked at Calvin's very stern face did his own smile vanish.

"What do you mean nightmares?" Linda asked.

"Sir Snores-a-lot has had a terrible string of sleep talking lately," Mike explained, "makes no sense, 'cept when he wakes me up screaming."

"Cal?"

"It's nothing," he said through bites of his sandwich.

"Does it have anything to do with, um, him?" She pointed up towards the sky. Calvin looked at her quizzically forcing Linda to add, "You know, that guy you work with."

"A few," Calvin lied.

"The rest have to do with his new girlfriend," Mike snickered as he bit into a store bought pastry.

"If this is another Wonder Woman wannabe," Linda protested.

"It's Cree," Mike smiled. At that very moment, Linda gave Calvin a sharp jab to his elbow.

"Ow, what was…"

"Suck it up, flyboy, it hurt me more then it hurt you," Linda stated, "Why did you ask her? You know she has a boyfriend?"

"She asked me," Calvin said, generating a surprised reaction from the rest of the crowd, "what, it isn't the 90s."

"Its about time one of you did something about that five year old crush," Linda continued, "that's all that I can say."

"In other words, they broke up, and she wants you?" Linda suggested.

"Sounds like someone's getting used," Mike said in a sing-song voice. As he did, the lights in the room went out.

* * *

"You don't even need to go through with the painful extraction process," Lex said as he pulled a disk out of his coat pocket and handed it to Doctor Lark, "we just need you to interpret and build these."

"What is this?" The balding man questioned as he took the small disk.

"A list of genetic bases organized into proper chromosomal sequences," Luthor informed, "I'm interested in the codes that will give me a copy of the Martian and the Kryptonian. Human sequences have been eliminated, and the remaining three are the original aliens of the league."

"Three? How did you narrow it down so fast?"

"There were only two arrangements that equate to 46 chromosomes, the number in every human cell," Luthor explained, "the Flash would have been dead before the record was made. Seeing as how his is the only genetic code that might be worth anything to us, we found no need to use Batman's, who has no powers, or John Stuart's, whose powers come from a mystical artifact. Wonder Woman's mystical origin did not translate into the data, leaving only Superman, J'onn J'onzz, and Shayera Hol's codes available."

"That's that Alternate Universe Brainiac in their, isn't it?" Daniel asked, pointing to the large metal container.

"Let's just say that it takes a lot of power to keep that thing inside," Lex noted.

"So I guess the only thing now," Daniel said, "is to copy these things and make armies of these things."

"No," Luthor corrected, "the Kryptonian DNA will go to a splicing formula to aid the Bureau Meta-human Affairs in the more difficult areas of their work. The Martian DNA is my own gift to the last survivor. As a sexually dimorphic race, given their shape shifting, I intend to use the DNA to mass grow a new population on Mars, as a gesture of thanks to J'onn's years of service." As he said this, the lights began to flicker inside the large room. Lex turned to the nearest technician. "What's the problem?" He yelled.

"Generators 1, 3, and 8 are over-heating and failing," the woman reported the readout's conclusion, "The remaining five are sufficient to keep the specimen locked up with a minor tax on the local grid, but if we have another failure, he could begin to reboot."

"Not to mention a massive grid blackout in the Mid-Atlantic region." Another technician reported. As he announced his findings, a large rumble echoed from outside.

"Sir," the woman announced, "generator 3 is no longer broadcasting."

* * *

A murmur rose from the dark cafeteria as people began discussing the possibility of an early dismissal because of the power failure. Of course, there was not going to be an official announcement from the office. The PAs would be down. But at the very least, Calvin could gauge what they would be doing. He filtered out the noise in the room, focusing in on the administration's words.

"Hey, flyboy," Linda interrupted, breaking the concentration, "you listening for what caused the outage?"

"I am now," Calvin replied in a quiet hiss. He resumed listening, this time for something bad outside of the school. As the excited chatter of the student body faded, Calvin began to pick up important sounds.

A loud boom echoed in his ears, as Calvin looked towards the wall at the far end of the room. Mike and Linda turned to look, as if they could see through the walls.

"Hey Cal, what is…" Mike inquired, only to turn and see his brother was not present. With the rest of the class to busy in the darkened hassle, Calvin burst from the building, pulling off his street clothes as he gathered speed for a flight.

* * *

With a loud hiss, the fire extinguisher blasted the fiery generator. The emergency crew outside the Luthor facility was working hard to quench the flames, with little success. One of the eight had already blown, and the two still on fire were making the remaining five work harder. They could easily catch soon. The foreman looked down at the screen at a list of generator statistics. His eyes widened.

"Clear eight!" one of the crew heard his boss yell across the generator. The man looked at the red hot device, and began to run away, tripping over his own feet and falling to the ground. He turned as a blast of flame streaked from the device. Suddenly, the man saw the erupting electrical equipment from a distance as a gush of air blew over him. Turning his head, he watched as a blue red streak looped upwards, as if following an invisible roller coaster track, and rushed the last burning generator. As he did, an icy wind flew from the young man's lips. As Superman came closer to the machine, a thick layer of ice coated it, smothering the flames as he pulled out of his dive, flying very close to the tops of the other generators. Coming to a floating stop some twenty feet above the equipment, the hero fired a single blast of heat vision, shattering the ice that was now jamming the generator. The foreman looked down at his monitors as the levels on generator number one returned to normal.

As the lights came back on inside the compound, Luthor looked at the security monitors that were coming online. As the image over the generator flickered as he caught a glimpse of Superman hovering over the machines. In a flash, the hero was gone. "Check the specimen and make sure its still down!" The bald man ordered as he turned to face the crew.

"He's still out, sir," the technician replied. Daniel's head shifted from watching his boss to the technician. The man at the computer didn't seem confident.

* * *

Susan walked into her office in the court house, reviewing an e-mail on her PDA. She tapped out a response as her heels clicked over the polished linoleum floors. She hit the send button as she walked into her own office, passing the secretary on the phone. Looking up from the device before making a call, she was confronted by a tall man with graying brown hair. He smiled, holding a bouquet of roses.

"Susan," the man said, holding out his arms at the glaring woman, "how have you been?"

"Morris, get out," the attorney coldly stated.

"I know what I did was…"

"Was?" Susan interrupted, "It still is wrong! You expect me to forgive you, after the way I was humiliated?"

"Susan, that was…"

"Eighteen years ago, I have a very good reminder."

"I was a drunk kid…"

"Drunk actions are sober thoughts Morris," Susan said, "and what was worse, you did it on your wedding day. If it wasn't for the fact that that was the happiest day my best friend's life, you would be rotting in jail. I still have the evidence, or have you forgotten?"

"Sue, I came to help your family out," Morris began.

"Oh, that's cute," Susan said, grabbing the flowers and throwing them to the floor, "use daddy's money to charm your way out of it."

"Come on, Sue…"

"It is Mrs. Lark, to you," She corrected.

"…Daniel and yourself aren't pulling down nearly the amount I intend to offer."

"Daniel is too proud to take money from you," Susan began, softening her voice, "and ironically, you gave me something your money could never buy with that one action. Unless you want to turn yourself in, this meeting is over." She held the door open, indicating her intent on ending the conversation.

Morris walked towards the door. He took one more look at Susan. "Thank-you for what you've done for me."

"I didn't do it for you. I did it for me," Susan reassured the man, "I'm going to be the bigger man." She closed the door in his face and walked back to the roses on the floor. She picked them up and waited about five minutes before going back out into the office lobby, walking over to her secretary. "Betty," She said, dangling the bouquet upside down over the younger woman, "I would be very happy if you could shred these and join me for a coffee."

* * *

The elevator doors opened slide opened as the CEO of Luthor Corp stepped out into the foyer of his office. Abigail looked up from her desk as he walked towards the doors to the more lavished room. She minimized the window on her computer screen and stood up to greet him.

"Wayne-Powers will have replacement generators in by morning," She informed, "no damage to the power grid, and…"

"Has Superman been by yet?" He asked coldly.

"There's been tapping," Abigail softly informed the now wide-eyed man, "I've been pretending he's not here, but he won't go away."

"The kid's more annoying then the last one," Luthor mused as he opened the doors to the room with the large shark tanks. "No calls!" He ordered, slamming the large oak doors shut. The room was oddly dark, with an eerie green light from the tank providing the only light. As he crossed the threshold and walked towards his desk, the lights flickered on, brightening the room with every step the man took. When he reached the window, he pulled away the blinds that blocked out the sunlight, revealing a boy in a blue and red outfit hovering above the vast streets below. "Superman," Luthor greeted as he slid the glass pane open, "what a pleasant surprise."

"You should have known I'd track down your new operation," Superman said as he floated in and touched the ground of the office floor.

"I would think otherwise," Luthor said as he turned his back on the boy, "after all, you never would have found it if there was no malfunction."

"You're hiding something in there," The teen asserted, "that building's lined with lead."

"I have a right to use buildings made from any materials I want," Lex said, sneering, "It's the American way. You fight for that, don't you?"

"What are you growing down there?" Calvin forcefully asked.

"What makes you think I'd tell you?" Luthor asked, "You could do one of three things: threaten to kill me, which would do you no good if I died, go down there and be brought up with trespassing charges as my unlawfully obtained evidence is thrown out, or back away." Lex said, reaching into his coat pocket. Calvin could have sworn he saw a flash of light as Luthor turned around and held out a red crystal. A tingling feeling came over Calvin as he backed away, almost in pain.

"What is that?" He asked, walking backwards to the window.

"Kryptonite," Lex informed, "A rarer isotope, to be precise. You see, I still would like you alive, so I got this nice little Red Kryptonite as a way of keeping you alive, without you killing me. Just my little way of saying back off."

As Lex approached, Calvin heard a sick laughter in his head, cackling madly as he backed up, crashing through the window. The ground rushed up to meet him as he fell out of the tower. He looked up to see the man holding the red rock. As the ground approached, the numb pain disappeared, and with less then five stories to go, Calvin lazily pulled out of his fall as he glided over the pedestrians on the streets. "He's loosing that touch of grace," Luthor joked to himself as he watched the boy fly off.

* * *

Sam walked back to the computer monitor and took another look. The sole light of the screen illuminated the room, as did the lights from the giant metal casket. The vitals looked good, but he wasn't sure. He had seen no sign of a spike. Like he would recognize a spike. He tapped the screen once for good measure and then stood up and turned around. He jumped back, startled to see someone standing behind him.

"Daniel," Sam said, patting his chest, "I'm not as young as I used to be."

"Sorry," Daniel said looking at the monitor, "so that's normal?"

"Yeah."

"Not even a small sliver of activity today?" Daniel inquired, "That speaks for Mr. Luthor's technology."

"Please," Sam said, pulling out a cred card, "don't tell the boss."

"What am I not telling him?"

"I don't think this equipment can register a spike on an AI processor," the man informed.

"So you just assumed that the thing didn't stir?"

"Look, Doctor," the man said, "If it had a Spike, it would be so much off the charts it would flat line them, like it wasn't there."

"So there's no way of knowing?"

"Not with any tech we have."

"You know, this thing is in here with us, listening to what we're saying."

"Yeah, it could be," Sam answered, looking around the room, as if playing a thing of hide and seek with the man.

"No, I said it is," Daniel ominously spoke. Sam turned to see the visage of the doctor fade into a metallic black skin. The pupil-less white eyes opened as the creature rushed the man, knocking him out completely. It held its fingers over the laptop. Instantly, they became fluid, liquid like tendrils that snaked down towards the computer. As they came in contact with the plastic case, they passed right threw, connecting with the circuitry inside. The eyes of the creature flashed in unison with the screen, increasing speed of the changing images that rapidly flashed in and out of view.

* * *

A blue streak rounded the corner of the building and descended lower into the back alley, several blocks from the LuthorCorp. Tower. Calvin touched down and caught his breath. The numbness that he associated with Kryptonite was gone, but the maniacal laughing had not. In fact, since he first heard it in the bald man's office, the sound had only grown worse.

"Calvin," a voice called out to him, sounding very much like a deranged person, "Calvin."

"Where are you?" Superman called out.

"Where are **you**?" The voice called back.

"Who are you?" Calvin echoed.

"Who are **you**?" The voice again replied.

"I'm serious, stop playing games."

"But it isn't a game, is it Calvy?" The voice echoed from all directions at once, "Where am I? Where ever you are. Who am I? Whatever you are not."

"Show yourself," Calvin ordered.

"Okay, Supes," the voice in a very cold, very calm manner, "Turn around."

Calvin turned around and his eyes widened at what he saw. In front of him was a boy his own height with messy brown hair. The kid wore dark blue jeans, and a black shirt, broken with white stripes on the sleeves. His eyes were red with insanity, and he had a devilish grin on his face. The resemblance was uncanny.

"Recognize me, Calvin?" The boy asked in the crazed voice, "I'm the man you see in the mirror everyday."

"Luthor cloned me," Calvin asserted.

"Oh, no, flyboy," the other Calvin said, "That's all in your head. I'm much more fun then a boring clone. I'm you when you go…" he put his finger to his lips and started strumming them up and down.

"Yeah, sure," the Calvin wearing the Superman costume said, as he turned away from the boy, "so, where did Lex get his samples?"

"But I know stuff about you," the insane Calvin said, "stuff that only the real Calvin would know. Like your parents: You were born on three days before their six month anniversary."

"My Dad works for Luthor," Calvin asserted, "he could have told you that."

"Oh no," Calvin said, "how about the origin of the suit. Did you tell him about "S"?"

"Who told you about that?" Calvin asked.

"There are only three who know about S: Linda, Michael, and me or us or we or you plural," Calvin pointed out, "unless they told, but they wouldn't cause you trust them, its was you. Of course, who else would know that Linda and Michael where your confidants."

With a burst of Super speed, the Calvin in the blue and red suit rushed at the Calvin in the black and white street clothes. Superman balled his fist, ready to slam it into the imposters face. Only at the last second did the other Calvin jump into the air, dodging the blow. The hero stopped as he looked up at the flying madman, who was hovering ten feet above him.

"Yeah, I have your powers too," the crazed Calvin said, "we're going to have so much fun!" He flew off into the night as the original looked on in fear.

* * *

"I'm walking up the path to your house," Linda's voice reported over the phone as Mike pulled on a jacket, "come down and let me in."

"Yeah," Mike said as he closed out of a window and shut the laptop, "be right there." Dropping the phone in his pocket, he wrenched open the door and walked slowly down the stairs, past the various family photos as the lower level of the house came into view.

"You saw Morris?" Mike heard his father say from the couch, "what did he want?"

"He wanted to give us money," Susan answered, also from the couch. Mike stopped walking, trying to be as silent as he could, "I said no."

"He's trying to get involved," Daniel deduced, "We need to tell Cal, before he meets this guy on the…"

"No," the mother asserted, "No."

"Sue, he's almost a man," Daniel said, "We raised him right, but sooner or later, he's going to ask questions. I'd rather he get them from me the Morris."

"We agreed," Susan reminded, "We'd tell him when he was eighteen."

"That is February Fifteenth," Daniel stated, "almost four months away. Are you really trying to protect him, or not think about it yourself?"

"Please, don't tell him."

"Sue?"

"Please, he's my son."

"Answer the question," Daniel ordered.

"Both." Susan replied, hanging her head in shame. Mike heard her sniffle and decided this would be a bad time to walk in on their conversation. Up in the bed room, he pulled out his cell phone and put it to his ear.

"Hey," Linda's voice answered on the other end, "where the hell are you? I'm on your front porch hoping some one will open…"

"Ring the bell," Mike said, "there's a mess of awkward downstairs that I can't interrupt."

"You gonna tell me?" She asked as the bell rang through the house.

"Only if you don't tell Cal," Mike stipulated.

"Mike," Daniel's voice echoed from downstairs, "Linda's here."

* * *

Calvin grabbed the spare clothes from his hidden cache behind the shopping center and pulled them over his hero outfit, finishing with the glasses. Large drops of rain began to fall from the sky as he walked away from the back of the building, seeking shelter inside a coffee shop. Inside, a warm golden glow gave a sheltered feel to the place.

"Hey Calvin," was the first words that greeted him, causing the boy to jump. He turned to see a girl with dark skin and brown, curly hair behind the register of the cozy shop.

"Hey Cree," Calvin said, turning to her, "I didn't know you worked here."

"Well, Dad wanted me to stop flirting with boys so much and get some money," She explained, "I'm about to go on break, if you want me to one up Daddy."

"Why not," Calvin smiled, "I'm not getting home in this storm."

"I love it when it rains," Cree said as she took off her apron, "just that feeling of coming into a dry, cozy place after being out in the rain. Simple pleasures."

"Not my thing," Calvin said as they sat down on a couch, "I'm not that poetic about things."

"If there's one person I know who has his head in the clouds," Cree asserted, "it's you. You're never around. I wanted to ask you what movie we were going to see in history, but you weren't around."

"I wasn't feeling well," Calvin lied, "I'm sorry."

"Well, any preferences?"

"What do you want to see?"

"Well I asked you first."

"But I'm going to be the gentleman and put my tastes in movies aside, and let you decide," Calvin explained, "and then, I need to like it no matter how bad it is, because I'm seeing it with someone else."

"You're a hopeless romantic," Cree beamed.

"I put others before myself," the boy noted, "it's like a job of mine."

"That's not your job, that's Superman's job," Cree retorted, "your a nice friend who I want to see a movie with. Stop being so selfish and think about yourself."

"I want to see the movie that would make you happy," Calvin stated.

"And I guess you want to pay too."

"You make saving money sound like a bad thing."

"Chivalry is dead, Cal. You don't need to pay for a good looking girl."

"What happened to Prince Charming?"

"Got replaced by Superman," Cree rationalized, "and you're no Superman."

"I'm hurt," Cal joked, "let me be a superman just once."

"Fine," Cree said, pulling the news paper listings close to her and tapping an action movie, "that one. You can even buy the tickets, but I swear, if you offer to get me popcorn, won't get anything special during the movie."

"Fast much?" Calvin questioned, leaning in a bit.

"I think we both know that we've both had a little crush," She said, leaning closer as well, "I think we can skip some of the get there."

"I can pick it up a little," Calvin agreed, moving close enough to her face that they could…

"**Lame!**" A voice yelled, as Calvin recoiled in fear. He recognized it.

"Is something wrong?" Cree asked, pulling herself away.

"Did you hear something?" Calvin inquired.

"Like what?"

"A voice."

"No."

"I'm sorry," Calvin hesitantly said, "I'm not feeling well again." He stood up and raced for the bathroom. Inside, the boy turned the knob for cold water. As the faucet poured out the liquid, Calvin cupped his hands to collect some. _There's no way, _he thought as he splashed the icy water onto his face, _he flew away. He could be anywhere. _He splashed another cupped handful of water onto his face, and grabbed a paper towel out of the dispenser. _Of all the things he could do, bug me like an eight year old? _Slowly he pulled the towel away from his face, and looked at his reflection in the mirror. Some one was behind him. In the mirror, it looked like his twin was standing right behind him.

"She was hot," the new comer stated in a cold, twisted voice, "I like her. Glad she's moving fast. You could get some tongue by the end of the week."

"You have your freedom," Calvin retorted, "why are you bothering me?"

"Calvy, Calvy, Calvy," Calvin teased, "That's how Superman would act."

"You haven't done anything wrong."

"Yet," Calvin corrected, "Right now, I'm along for the ride."

"You're not riding along with me," Calvin protested.

"Rather ride her?" Calvin sinisterly asked, "you see, Calvy, I know every teensy tiny little thingy about you. And despite the image of being a good guy, your not. And that's fun. Like the time you got so drunk at the Swim Team party you…"

"Shut up,"

"Or the performance enhancing drugs you did, or…"

"Leave me alone!"

"I can't do that. I like you, or me, way to much to leave us."

"You're not me."

"Cling to that if you will, but I am as much you as you are me."

"I'm not like you."

"Oh," Calvin said in a sing-song voice, "you'd like it if that were true. You want to be the great alien hero. You hate being human, because you know all the rotten shit you did when you were one. All the pain, all the hurt, all the dishonesty, you hate it. Well, now you're a god, and there are things you want to do. Things I want to do. You're too much of a goody-two shoes now to do those fun things, but I will."

"Then do something," Calvin said, "and I'll have fun stopping you."

"Love to," the other Calvin shouted, "can't. I'll take a rain check. Right now, I want to get back to putting the moves on Cree." In a blur of black and white, the other Calvin raced out of the rest room. The first ran out after him, stopping when he saw the room was all but empty. Only Cree and the rest of the staff were left in the shop.

"Feeling better?" Cree asked as Calvin, dazed, walked out of the bathroom door.

"Not really," Calvin replied woozily, "I'll see you tomorrow at the movies."

"Call me?"

"Sure."

* * *

The light of the moon made the clouds below him look like he was flying over a glacial flow meeting a cold sea. The towers below, now dwarfed, rolled under the boy through the breaks in the sky cover. No signs. Nothing that looked remotely like someone who looked like him was out there.

Patrol done, Calvin turned to his own simple pleasure. Weaving in and out of the clouds, the boy darted across the night sky in incredible loops and breath taking turns. Ever since the first time he had flown over Metropolis that late September night, Calvin had easily found his favorite part about being Superman: flying.

His patterns and maneuvers stopped over the Eastern end of Hobbs Bay, where he leveled off and hovered high above the large bridge to Bakerline. He was far enough up that the city lights where miniscule below. He could barely make out the cars that drove over the roads and the people milling around famous tourist locations.

"Pretty," a voice said. Calvin turned to see none other then his reflection staring back at him, "still haven't figured it out? Who I am, other then I am you but not you."

"What, were you following me?"

"After you didn't finish up with Cree," the other Calvin explained, "I had to bag on you."

"Figures," Superman replied, "Can't leave me alone, can't do something that would make me want to beat the shit out of you."

"Oh, I'm about to do something," the black shirt Calvin said, "but I just want to warn you, this is where the fun begins. This is where I really get to have fun. You might too, but I doubt that."

"Who are you?" Calvin demanded.

"If you must know," the other Calvin began, his voice becoming more sinister, more maniacal, "you know that little voice in the back of your head. The one that tells you to do the things you would never do because someone could get hurt. Push your friend of the bridge. See how fast a school can burn down. Can a Diet Coke and Mentos reaction create a deadly grenade in a sealed bottle? That's my voice you are hearing. And a while back, you were pretty good at listening to me. You took your performance enhancers, and you made an ass of yourself when you were drunk. You did well, my little bad boy. But then you stopped listening to me. I didn't shut up, but I was hurt. You got speared by that splicer and the next thing I know is that you are saving people, rather then becoming a ruler. Blowing up some tanks and what have you. You're playing guardian angle, ignoring me. Well, now I'll be in control of our little mind. And you will be that little voice in the back of my head who tells me I shouldn't kill Mike for bringing Kryptonite into the house."

"No," Calvin yelled as he charged the look alike. Instead of slamming into him, Calvin passed through the others floating body.

"Yeah, remember that Red Kryptonite Lexy showed us?" Calvin asked, "That's what allowed me to appear in front of you. But I was never solid. I only appeared to you. I just needed you to go to bed, and I would take full control."

"This is my dream?" Calvin asked as he looked around.

"No, this is my dream," the crazed Calvin gleefully exclaimed, "This is your nightmare. Time to wake up!"

Calvin's eyes opened on their own. They blinked as he sat up in his bed and looked around the room. On their own, his hands lifted to eye level, twisting and turning, as if he was checking to make sure they were real. Calvin watched as his body threw off the covers of his bed, and got to his feet. Calvin stood in his underwear in the dark room. His body walked to the dresser and pulled open the drawers. His body got dressed on its own and began walking out of the house.

_I told you I was you, _a voice echoed in Calvin's head, _I've watched your day to day life, and I know everything about you._

_Then you'd know, _Calvin retorted, _That I don't leave the house without the Suit on._

_You have so much respect for that thing, _The voice noted, _because you think it is from the man of Steel himself. We know that is impossible. Superman I is dead. Superman II will be feared._

_I won't let you, _Calvin strongly stated.

_What choice do you have? _The voice teased, _You're just a thought in the back of my mind that I can shut out whenever I want._

Calvin walked out into the back yard, greeted by the barking of the neighbor's dog. It yapped as the boy's body contorted his knees. Suddenly, he sprung up, flying into the dark sky above, clouds breaking as he pushed higher and higher into the atmosphere. Calvin eased off high above the towers, and looked around. His vision focused on a shop, its window caged up for the night. On display was a black shirt with a dark red S shield. A burst of speed sent him flying towards New Troy, stopping on the street in front of the store. His hands extended, and grabbed the iron bars. With a small tug, they flew off the building, an alarm sounding as several pedestrians ran out of the way of the falling bars. The glass shattered, as he put thrusted his hand through the window, grabbing the shirt.

_You just robbed a store for a shirt? _Calvin questioned.

_Who's going to stop me? _The voice retorted, _Besides, I like the darker look. _The arms pulled off the shirt Calvin was currently wearing, and put on the black S shirt. His eyes glowed red as he looked at the crowd of people. "Anyone challenge me?" He asked as they backed away. "Good." He said, taking off once more. As he ascended, a blast erupted from his eyes, igniting a large fire on the streets as the people backed away.

* * *

Holly winced as her cell phone's ring tone brought her out of her sleep. It couldn't be this early, this soon. She looked at the digital clock on her bedside table. 2:03 A.M. Who calls at 2:03 A.M? She looked at the caller ID on her cell phone. _Work _It read. This had better be good. No way in hell was she going to answer a charity call at 2:03 in the morning. She flipped open the device and hit send.

"Ryder," She said between yawns into the speaker, "this had better be good."

"Superman's in downtown Metropolis creating a situation," the voice answered, not sounding like the agent at all. Much more alien. Much more stoic.

"I can't do this alone," she informed.

"You're closest, and by default the first responder," Ryder informed.

"I'm going to need back up," She ordered as she opened a drawer in her desk and pulled looked in, "and I'm going to need the exact people I tell you to give me."

"You haven't in the league long enough to know who is best for the job," the man on the other end informed, "I will assemble your…"

"Stow it," She snapped, "I've learned enough about Superman to know what I need to take him down." She pulled out the item she was looking for: a green ring with a lantern shape on it. "And damn it, I'm in the Green Lantern Corp. I can make these decisions. I need Marvel, Captain Atom, and Nightwing."

"Nightwing left earlier," Ryder informed, "he's still bitter."

"Then I need you J'onzz," Holly said as she slipped the right ring on, "we may need to think some sense into him."

"I'll take your plan into consideration," J'onn informed, hanging up on the girl.

Holly put the phone down and held out her right hand. Instantly, a large green lantern appeared in front of her. She began to recite:

"In brightest day, In blackest night,

No evil shall escape my sight,

Let those who worship evil's might,

Beware my power, Green Lantern's Light!"

As she finished the words, a ring of green plasma formed in front of the girl. It quickly moved over her body, replacing her street clothes with her Green Lantern uniform. The light condensed and formed a mask, which floated gently to rest on her nose. With a blast of green light, she launched out through the wall and out of her house, heading in the direction of the problem.

* * *

_San Francisco…_

Alex brushed some of his dreadlocks out of his eyes as the ten year old tapped the buttons on his hand held game consol. One would suspect that this boy didn't have a care in the world as he blasted an alien with every tap of the button. One would think that he was just an ordinary kid, staying up way too late playing video games.

As he tapped the button, a buzzing sound echoed in his ear. He hit pause, and tapped the miniature device. "That was the big boss," Alex informed the man on the other end, "is this really important?"

"You are needed in Metropolis," the alien voice informed on the other end, "Superman needs to be subdued."

"I thought he was dead," Alex ignorantly stated.

"This is a new one, and I'm not sure he's thinking straight," the caller informed.

"And history is repeating itself?" Alex joked, "I'm going."

He removed his finger from the device in his ear as he snuck out the back door of his house. He looked up at the dark, swirling clouds above him and smiled. "SHAZAM!" He yelled. Instantly, a bolt of lightning flew from the clouds, hitting the boy square in the chest. In a cloud of dust and smoke formed around the figure as Alex could feel the energy from the lightning strike course through him.

As the smoke disappeared, Alex took off. No longer in the body of a ten year old, but one of a full grown man, with dark skin and longer dreadlocks then the child, soared above the city. He wore a white, long sleeves shirt with a lightning bolt insignia and matching pants and boots. He pushed the cape, which draped over his left shoulder, away, letting it flutter behind him as he raced across the country.

* * *

Captain Atom pushed off from the New Mexico testing range. He felt nervous going into battle against another Superman. Even with red sun radiation, the Captain couldn't subdue the original. Maybe the inexperience of the newer one would make it an easier battle. Still, he knew he was the weakest member going in.

Pushing himself to his limits, Nathaniel launched himself through the sky, leaving a blue streak across the desert sky as he rushed off to Metropolis.

* * *

A blur moved a flashed over the city as flashes of heat vision rained down on the streets below. The blast had various strengths, ranging form a small fire, to blowing a chunk of street into the tunnels below, causing the vehicles to swerve. When a blast opened a large enough hole, the menace stopped above it, and with the grace of an Olympic diver, flew down into the under-streets of New Troy. Superman, now in control by his darker thoughts, flew through the tunnel, causing cars to swerve in his wake. Three blocks down, he grabbed a tanker trailer, and brought it back to the surface, flying higher into the sky, he tossed it towards a building. It connected, exploding in a large fire ball.

_So, _Calvin asked the voice, _you're all about mindless destruction._

_Now you're catching on, _the voice said, _just a little fun to remind the people who is in control._

_Why?_

_I could ask you the same thing, _the voice answered, _I'm you. You've had these thoughts._

_I would never do this, _Calvin retorted.

_Oh really, _the voice answered, _who was in control when we threatened to drop Lex Luthor from a high rise tower?_

_I didn't drop him, _Calvin stated.

_But you wanted to, _the voice cackled, _you were angry and wanted to take it out on someone._

_That was your influence._

_Like I said, Calvy, you and I, we're a team. One person, calling the shots. You are as much guilty of this, _Calvin's body stopped seventy stories above the base of an apartment high rise, _as I am. _Calvin recognized the room, the building, the balcony. The same one that he fell from twelve years ago. _You see, Calvy, I've out grown my hero worship._

Just then, a green light connected with Superman, slamming him into another building. As he shook off the pain, the female Lantern formed a sarcophagus around his body. She floated on the level with him, looking him in the eye.

"Calvin," Holly yelled, "what's gotten into you?"

"Nothing's gotten into me," Calvin roared, "I'm just fine."

"Calvin," the girl yelled, letting the mask fade from her eyes, "it's Holly. Your friend I'm here to help you."

"You want to help?" Calvin asked, "Then leave my friend alone, you fing faggot." Both entities knew they had crossed the line. The mask reappeared, as Calvin picked up off the side of the building, and slammed face down into the streets below.

"If you ever call me that again," Holly said as she came closer to the wild boy, "I will find out how to take out the inhibitors on this ring and kill you."

"Unlike you," Calvin smiled, seeing the gas line below the surface, "I don't have those inhibitors. Not anymore." His heat vision lanced the pavement, and struck the pipe by the streets in the tunnel, instantly causing an explosion that threw the girl and her light structures off of him. Holly was in a fog when Calvin sped through the smoke, catching her powered down, and flying higher into the air. The girl managed to get a hold of herself as they cleared the highest towers, forcing a bubble of green energy around herself, repelling the boy.

Calvin flew back slightly, and the rushed at the bubble, tossing a punch with all his strength at it. A crack formed at the impact spot.

"Green Lantern to all points," Holly hollered, "I can't take much more pounding. I need a relief."

"I'll be right there," a deep voice answered as Calvin brought his fist for a second strike. Suddenly, he disappeared in a blur of white. Calvin flew into the roof of a low building as Holly turned to see the giant of a man floating beside her. "Told ya I'd be right there," Captain Marvel smiled.

"What took ya?" Holly asked as the bubble disappeared, "Couldn't get away from the baby sitter?"

"Har Har," Marvel said as he saw Superman get up and race towards him. "Got to go," the Captain announced as he flew towards the renegade hero. They collided in mid-air, sending a shock-wave that cracked the glass in the nearby towers. Calvin's body flew backwards, slamming into, and through, the building he had just been flew off from, leveling the complex. Holly flew close to the rubble, using her ring to search for Superman.

"That didn't stop him," Alex noted, descending towards the rubble.

"It might," Holly suggested, "He's still under all this. He should have come up by n…" As she spoke the words, the debris below her exploded, knocking her into the ground several feet away as the green aura that was around her faded. Alex, whose gaze had followed his collogues' limp body, looked towards the smoke from the blast sight. Standing in the middle of the crater was Superman, livid with glowing red eyes. Captain Marvel made a mad dash to the ground as Superman began to take flight. This time, instead of catching the blow, Marvel caught and twisted the arm. Still flying towards the ground, he pulled the super powered teen with him, landing and putting him into a hold.

"I really didn't want to repeat history," Alex told the boy, "SHAZAM!" A flash of lightning erupted from the sky, striking Calvin in the chest. He cried out in pain as the "S" shield burnt away, revealing painfully red flesh.

"SHAZAM!" Another lightning bolt flew from the sky, striking the fallen Superman yet again. The boy howled once again in pain as smoke rose off his chest. He was zapped of energy as Captain Marvel yelled out once more, bringing down another bolt of lightning. Calvin's knees went limp and his eyes grew heavy.

_Not so invincible, are you? _Calvin tormented the voice controlling his body.

_No, _the voice smugly replied, _but he isn't either._

"Had enough?" Captain Marvel asked.

"No," Calvin weakly said, struggling to break free.

"Fine," Alex replied, "SHAZAM!"

The world moved in slow motion as the lightning arched through the sky. With a burst of strength, he broke free from the Captain's grip and sped around behind him, putting the man in a hold as the lightning struck. As the smoke settled, Calvin found himself holding a small boy with dreadlocks. He tossed the child to the ground, and picked up a large concrete slab.

"Makes you wish you didn't play with the big boys, huh?" The rogue yelled. Out of the corner of his eye, a red something flashed. He turned his head as it connected, sending him through a wall of another building. He shook it off as he looked up to see a man made of some silver metal hovering over him, hands glowing red as he fired another blast of red sun energy.

* * *

Holly's eyes flickered as she came too, surveying the damage. The sight of Alex, now a child, lying in the wreckage jarred her to full consciousness. She rushed over and put a barrier around herself and the boy. Picking him up, she pressed the switch on her comm. link, opening a channel to the watchtower.

"J'onn," She yelled into the device, "J'onn, Alex is down, and Atom is holding Calvin back, but he won't survive for long."

"Understood," the Martian replied as Alex's body disappeared in a blue light, "Alex has been transported out. I'm sending…"

"J'onn, Captain Marvel is down," Holly informed, "I'm here, Captain Atom is here. Without Wonder Woman or Nightwing, everyone who can take him down is down here. We've done everything, except mental assaults."

"You need a telepath?" J'onn asked, clearly not enjoying where the conversation was going.

"One that can hold his own with Superman," Holly corrected, "we need you."

* * *

Calvin tossed Nathaniel against the wall, only to be hit with another blast of red sun radiation. Superman ran towards Captain Atom, and was met with a glowing fist. He fell to the ground and jumped to his feet, tossing his body into his opponent. As the silver man dodged the blow, he cupped his glowing hands, and slammed the boy in the back, blowing him into the ground.

Superman was picked up, and tossed through a large concrete pillar, shattering it as he flew into the opposite wall. Captain Atom pushed off the ground and flew towards the teenager. His hands glowed red as he approached the boy. He made two fists and held them in the direction of the boy, casting a crimson light around the room. "Had enough?" He asked.

Calvin looked up. In the light of the room, his foe couldn't see the boy's eyes glowing red with rage. Before the nuclear man could react, Calvin mustered up the last of his strength, as blast of heat vision sent Adams flying into what was left of the cement support, killing the light of the room. The boy pulled himself out of the crater in the wall and walked towards the fallen Leaguer. As he did, a blue light filled the room. Superman turned to see the source, only to be confronted with a pair of glowing red eyes.

Suddenly, the room around him began to spin, changing colors between greens and reds. He shut his eyes, and dropped to his feet, only to continue to fall through the disorienting cloud. Calvin closed his eyes once again…

* * *

His eyes opened his eyes, to reveal a complete change in the scenery. Calvin turned around, seeing black water lap up on the shore of a moonlit lake. The cold night wind whipped his face as he took the sight in. He looked at his clothes, noting that he was in the Superman outfit that he had received when he first received his powers.

"Recognize it?" A voice asked. Calvin turned, seeing the speaker was the crazed version of himself that had been following him since Luthor showed him the Red Kryptonite. This Calvin wore the black shirt with the Red S shield.

"Deep Creek Lake. We used to vacation here during the summer," Calvin observed, "How'd I get here?"

"It's one of our favorite places," the other noted, "so, I felt it would be a wonderful place to have our epic battle."

"This is all in my head then?" Calvin asked.

"Yeah," Calvin sneered, rising into the sky, "may the best Calvin win." With that, the boy in the black shirt flew towards the boy in the blue. The other Calvin, raced out of the way as the ground exploded on impact. He turned around to see his double walk out of the crater. Calvin blue fired a blast of heat vision at his double, blowing him into the water.

After flying to the small dock, Calvin landed and looked for the other personality. As he scanned the water, the dock exploded as the other self landed an uppercut to his chin. The blue shirt did a summersault in the air and flew into the black shirt's mid-section, slamming him across the lake and into forest at the other end of the water. He pulled back as the other Calvin, felled the trees, crashing the pines into the ground and a cutting a trench in the dirt.

Calvin launched himself off the ground, throwing an earth-shattering punch to his saner counterpart, who flew backwards due to the force. Calvin tossed another as his foe contorted to the blow. And another, only to have the kid wearing the blue shirt dodge. The other Calvin folded his hands together and delivered a strong blow to the back of the black shirt. Calvin fell face first into the ground etching several large cracks in the shore.

Calvin flew down to his fallen self and looked at him as he stood, smiling. He looked down at the ground as several cracks crisscrossed around the impact sight, flooding the nearer area with light as the newest cracks formed. "What did you do?!" He yelled at himself.

"I don't know," Calvin answered, "but it can't be good!" The ground began to fall away in shards, releasing a bright white light. The shards began fall faster and faster, breaking around the two Supermans. As the pieces fell, the blue shirt Calvin began to loose balance. Finally, the two last few shards he stood on gave way, causing him to fall into the bright light…

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	7. Where Blind Men See: Part Two

**Journal of a Superman**

By S.P. Bley

Where Blind Men See: Part Two

His eyes opened his eyes, to reveal a complete change in the scenery. Calvin turned around, seeing black water lap up on the shore of a moonlit lake. The cold night wind whipped his face as he took the sight in. He looked at his clothes, noting that he was in the Superman outfit that he had received when he first received his powers.

"Recognize it?" A voice asked. Calvin turned, seeing the speaker was the crazed version of himself that had been following him since Luthor showed him the Red Kryptonite. This Calvin wore the black shirt with the Red S shield.

"Deep Creek Lake. We used to vacation here during the summer," Calvin observed, "How'd I get here?"

"It's one of our favorite places," the other noted, "so, I felt it would be a wonderful place to have our epic battle."

"This is all in my head then?" Calvin asked.

"Yeah," Calvin sneered, rising into the sky, "may the best Calvin win." With that, the boy in the black shirt flew towards the boy in the blue. The other Calvin, raced out of the way as the ground exploded on impact. He turned around to see his double walk out of the crater. Calvin blue fired a blast of heat vision at his double, blowing him into the water.

After flying to the small dock, Calvin landed and looked for the other personality. As he scanned the water, the dock exploded as the other self landed an uppercut to his chin. The blue shirt did a summersault in the air and flew into the black shirt's mid-section, slamming him across the lake and into forest at the other end of the water. He pulled back as the other Calvin, felled the trees, crashing the pines into the ground and a cutting a trench in the dirt.

Calvin launched himself off the ground, throwing an earth-shattering punch to his saner counterpart, who flew backwards due to the force. Calvin tossed another as his foe contorted to the blow. And another, only to have the kid wearing the blue shirt dodge. The other Calvin folded his hands together and delivered a strong blow to the back of the black shirt. Calvin fell face first into the ground etching several large cracks in the shore.

Calvin flew down to his fallen self and looked at him as he stood, smiling. He looked down at the ground as several cracks crisscrossed around the impact sight, flooding the nearer area with light as the newest cracks formed. "What did you do?!" He yelled at himself.

"I don't know," Calvin answered, "but it can't be good." The ground began to fall away in shards, releasing a bright white light. The shards began fall faster and faster, breaking around the two Supermans. As the pieces fell, the blue shirt Calvin began to loose balance. Finally, the two last few shards he stood on gave way, causing him to fall into the bright light…

* * *

With a loud gasp, Calvin's eyes opened. He was lying down in a very advanced hospital room, illuminated by a red light. He blinked rapidly as he sat up and looked around the room. At the far end, a girl with short, blonde hair stood looking at vid screen. She turned to see the boy, and looked back at the screen.

"Welcome to the Watchtower," Holly said calmly, "you are under a red sun light, so if you aren't the real Calvin, you won't get far." She pressed the button on the screen, and the sound grew louder.

"…Metropolis is waking up to major damage after a rampaging Superman tore through downtown New Troy, causing several million dollars in property damage. While the exact death total is unknown, at least three people are confirmed dead, with aproximatly 25 missing or unaccounted for…"

"Turn it off," Calvin ordered.

"Sorry," Holly said as she changed the channel, "I understand, you weren't yourself, didn't know what you were doing. Mind control or something like that. It wasn't you."

"It was me," Calvin corrected, "that was a part of me that I don't normally admit to."

"So, good ol' boy Calvin Lark has his bad boy moments?" Holly asked.

"That was the stuff I've entertain doing," Calvin affirmed, "the stuff that I would never really do, but have thought about doing."

"J'onn scanned your head," Holly asserted, "It wasn't you in control. More like…"

"One part of me," Calvin finished, "The one part I wished didn't exist."

"But it does," Holly noted, "Everyone has a part of themselves that they try to hide. Yours just isn't hidden anymore."

"How could you justify what I did?" Calvin retorted, "didn't you see the news? Three people are dead! Because of me! The real Superman would have never…"

"The real Superman," Holly interrupted, "Calvin, to a city of people down there, you are the real Superman. As for the first Superman, he had his bad days too. Ever hear of Project Cadmus? That was practically the fallout from one of these bad days."

"Why are you doing this?" Calvin asked, "I hurt you."

"Physically or emotionally?" Holly asked, "Physically, well, any fight you can walk away from… Besides, I have the world's most powerful weapon on my fist. Hard to fight that. Emotionally, well, I've been done worse."

"Calvin Lark," a stoic voice called out as the doors to the room opened with a whoosh. A green man with a cone-like head and a blue cape, "Justice League has vouched for you. You were under the influence of Red Kryptonite, and we have made proper contacts to inform the city of that."

"You just got me off the hook?" Calvin asked in shock as Holly disappeared from the red room.

"Yes, we understand…"

"I killed three people," Calvin interrupted.

"You're actions previously has warranted your credibility and…"

"They let me off the hook?" Calvin finished, "Because of a big red "S" on my chest?"

"Yes," the Martian replied, "I am a telepath. I verified that you were not responsible for your actions. Get some rest. We'll send you home tomorrow."

* * *

Calvin looked at the LED clock as the audience laughed at the late night comedian on the television. The green light from the clock mixed with the red light from the lamps and made an ugly brown as he watched a the host crack about the humorous news paper announcement for the Hook and Fisher wedding. He shifted in his bed and looked into the red sun lamp directly over him.

"That's bad for your eyes," a familiar voice informed him. Calvin sat up and looked directly across the room, spying a man in a tan over coat and matching hat.

"Ryder," Calvin yelled as he got out of bed, "they have the room under surveillance. How did you get past everyone?"

"I have my clearance," the agent cryptically answered, "I came to inform you that J'onn J'onzz is lying to you. He made a deal with the government that you would be granted amnesty in exchange for a removal of your powers."

"Prove it," Calvin ordered.

"You are completely vulnerable under red sun lamps and you want me to prove that you are in danger?" Ryder noted, "Or what if I just drop a hint that I am with this branch of the government?"

"Every time I've talked with you, I've been dreaming," Calvin pointed out, "what makes this different."

"Nothing could, except that every time I've come to you," Ryder reminded, "I've been right. J'onn and his league are not your allies. You must understand, they have invested much in having you loose your powers. Something I do not entirely want is going on with them, and you're the price they need to pay."

"I know about Cadmus," Calvin informed, "I know there was a time where the United States government feared the combined might of the JLU. Are they still afraid?"

"Cadmus is immaterial now," Jon informed, "I need to get you out of here."

"So you can have your weapon against them?" Calvin asked as he slammed his hand down on a red button.

"Security breech in infirmary ward 83-11," A cool feminine computer voice blared across the tower. Ryder looked around, alarmed. As the whoosh of the door filled the room, the agent disappeared right before Calvin's eyes.

"Everything alright?" a responding hero asked over the repeated calls of Security Breech.

* * *

"No," J'onn firmly said, "we made no deal of the sort. I can call others to back up my claim, but I made no promise."

"Anyone above you who could have made that call?" Calvin asked, seriously doubting the Martian's words.

"I am Command authority 004," the Manhunter said, holding out his fingers, "Authorities 003 and 001 are retired and have no place over ruling me."

"And 002?" Calvin asked

"That was the first Superman," J'onn solemnly noted, "and we don't recycle CA numbers."

"Okay," Calvin acknowledged as a beeping sounded.

"Batman," J'onn responded to his earpiece.

"We've done a full sweep of all decks," the voice answered. Calvin was only able to pick it up due to his own super hearing, "no trace of any intruder."

"Be advised that he is a mentalist."

"Yeah, you picking him up?"

"No."

"What I thought. One more thing," Batman added, "I checked with the Bureau of Metahuman affairs. They don't have any employee named Jon Ryder. And I checked both spellings."

"Okay," J'onn nodded as he hung up and turned to the room at large, "we will be transferring Calvin. I want someone in this room at all times until then. No one gets in or out unless I am with them."

* * *

Bakerline's old industrial back ground never quite left that part of the City of Tomorrow, Calvin observed as he materialized in an abandoned rail yard. Much of the older part of the borough was a forgotten man made waste land. The boy wasn't sure what he hated more about being in the run down part of town: the fact that the Watch-Tower teleports made him queasy, the notion that he was in a place of ruin, or the idea of flying over the portion of the city that he had ruined. That was if he could still fly.

He walked over to a train car just to be sure. He grabbed the rusted tanker and began to lift. As if it was nothing, the car was pulled off the earth, suspended by the boy's own hand.

"Looking good," a faint voice sneered. Calvin dropped the object with a loud crash as he looked for an obvious source. Even with x-ray vision, no one showed up. He mad one last sweep before gently pushing off the ground, and flying towards the sunset blazed sky.

As he passed over the water separating the borough, Calvin could clearly see the faces of the people in the Magnet train as it sped over the suspended track. He turned his head away from the crowd, trying to displace their looks of fear. It did not help to fly over New Troy. The part of Metropolis that had sustained the most damage from the attack was only adding to the literal guilt trip. And it seemed like the only time the people stopped picking up the pieces was when they caught glimpse of the supposed savior.

It was dusk by the time Calvin found an emergency clothes stash and walked into the front door of his house. He quietly walked in on the three members of the family who were still eating dinner. Susan looked up as her son began to climb the stairs.

"For someone who spent the day at Six Flags," she teased, "you look aweful."

"Hmm," Calvin said, forgetting his cover for the moment. J'onn had been by earlier and made his family think that their son was on a school trip to a local amusement park, "Feeling lousy. That one ride was too high and too fast for my tastes."

"That red one with the big hill at the beginning?" Daniel asked, trying to identify the roller coaster.

"Yeah," Calvin confirmed, "do you mind if I go to bed? I'm not feeling well."

"Sure," Susan said as she took a bight from her steak, "I'll fix you something for later."

The brown haired boy climbed up the stairs, lazily opened his door, and collapsed onto the bed. His eyes shut the red pillow case out of his mind. After a few minutes, he maneuvered the laptop on the desk and turned it on. He typed in an address for a news web sight.

"…The single mom and her two children where found inside a van, crushed by debris from the attack earlier this morning. With the recent discovery, of the remains of a homeless man, the death toll now stands at four people. Twelve are seriously injured and another thirteen are still missing. The Justice League has issued a statement that Superman poisoned with a rare isotope of Kryptonite, however many…

Calvin flipped to another sight.

"…Government officials with the Bureau of Meta-Human Affairs did not comment on the specifics of the arrangement with the Justice League, but did say that they were not pursuing charges against the young Kryptonian at this time. This has cause an outrage from many law enforcement agencies…"

Another change.

"…We've had this happened before, and the first Superman was acquitted. In fact, leading an Apokolips invasion force is only a foot note in any biography about him.

"But what you're forgetting Jim," the other talking head inturpted, "is that the first Superman had a long clean streak. This one is what, two months new? We know anything about him. He could have been planning to do this…"

The screen went dark as the bedroom door creaked open. Calvin looked up as Mike slowly entered the room. He sat down in the swivel chair as Calvin turned to face the wall. The silence was understood by both brothers. Neither wanted to talk about it.

"Its weird knowing that you went to Six Flags," Mike said, breaking the silence, "Everything I see about you leaving is a lie, but I remember it like it actually happened. It's like a dream."

"I wish," Calvin somberly replied.

"So you actually did it?" Mike asked, "why?"

"If I had the choice, we wouldn't be having this discussion."

"So it wasn't you then? You don't need to feel guilty about this."

"It's a bit more complicated then that," Calvin argued as he rolled over, "the Kryptonite isn't in the drawer."

"I moved it," Mike said, "I figured that if you wanted to be invincible, you would throw it into the sun. Or if you were feeling remorseful or something and well, you know."

* * *

"So we've learned our lesson about Ryder?" Linda asked as the walked around a local duck pond, "What business did he have telling you that your powers were forfeited when…"

"Government," Calvin thought, "there's a business in making the next Superman. Luthor had an army of clones. One of his rivals had the splicing serum. They want to sell the military a superman."

"So it isn't real at all?" She asked, "You still get to be Superman?"

"I might not want to," Calvin noted, "I saw how the people looked at me when I flew past the train yesterday."

"Save a few lives and…"

"They were scared of me. Like I was going to attack them."

"Well, you sort of did," Linda reminded, causing Calvin to hang his head in shame, "Give them some time. More good deeds could really change their minds. One at a time. At least you have the League backing you. Spider-man doesn't have anyone to turn to."

"Thanks, I think," Calvin said as he looked towards a taller building close to the coast. He pointed at the building with a mixed look, "Can you see the elevator on that tower over there?"

"Barely, why?" Linda replied, squinting to just barely make it out.

"Does it look like there is a problem?" He asked, pulling off his glasses and handing them to her, "Like its falling?"

"Go!"

* * *

Max heard a loud pop as the glass elevator climbed up the towering sky scraper. She thought that it had to be the mother, trying to calm the talkative child, or a co-worker who was notorious for making odd sounds.

It was only when the elevator screeched to a halt that she looked up. Concerned about making her meeting were all that filled her mind. Until the groan of strained metal filled the small room. Followed by a short drop, tripping the device's emergency brakes and causing the vehicle to bob precariously on its stop. Panting hard, she looked out the window as a blue and red streak rocketed towards their car. There was another creaking of metal, and the emergency breaks gave out, sending the car plummeting fifty stories down to earth.

As the vehicle picked up speed, the woman looked up. She and the rest of the occupants found themselves staring at a red S shield as the car slowed down at the next floor. Calvin leveled off at the thirty-second door, and held the elevator in place.

Suddenly, he jerked it, causing the occupants inside to grab on to hand rails. Outside, the task seemed to be getting difficult for the Teen of Steel. The car was some how getting heavier as he held it up. The stamping of the people inside was hard enough to deal with now as Max hit the emergency button, causing the doors to fly open. She and the occupants proceeded to rush out of the small glass room as Calvin strained to hold on. As the man stepped off the vehicle last, the weight became to unbearable and forced the boy to let go. The car plummeted to the street level, slamming into its base in a heap of twisted metal. The passengers looked from the wreck to the hero with a look of mixed awe and fear as the doors slide closed.

As he flew up the side of the building, Calvin's cell phone rang in his pocket. He pulled out the ear piece and put it on as he answered the call.

"Why did you drop the elevator?" Linda asked sternly into the phone.

"It was getting heavy," He sheepishly replied.

"Your Superman," Lin reminded, "how the hell could that be to heavy?"

"I don't know," Calvin answered, "it just was. Everything else feels fine." As he finished his sentence, a loud beep rang in his ear. He picked up the phone to look at the caller ID. "I am so SOL," He thought out loud.

"Why are you 'so out of luck?'" Linda asked.

"It's Cree on the other line," Calvin replied, "I was supposed to see a movie with her yesterday instead of lay waste to New Troy."

"My apologies," Linda stated, "you're 'shit out of luck.' Call me back, I want to know what she said."

"Why would I tell you about our conversation?"

"So you can give pointers on breaking Mike's heart."

"You're bad."

"We can't all be the hero. See ya." She hung up. Calvin hit the send button on his phone and sat down behind a large air conditioner, ready to listen the other caller.

"Took you long enough," Cree's voice replied, sounding slightly perturbed. Calvin's face contorted with horror: was she one of the people whose memory was altered by Martian Manhunter.

"What's up?" The hero asked.

"When were you going to tell me you were going to the other side of the state for the day?" She hollered.

"I for…"

"You **FORGOT!!!**" She screamed, "How could you forget? You could have had the courtesy to tell me that you were not going to the movies with me. At least called."

"Listen," Calvin tried to justify, "my life has been getting a little complicated and I…"

"What is so complicated in your life?" Cree yelled, forcing Calvin to pull the hands-free out of his ear, "You're a kid. I'm a kid. We're not out saving the world. And going to an amusement park doesn't count in the slightest."

She hung up as Calvin put the receiver back in. He pulled the phone out and hit the send button, looking for Linda's number. As the highlighter fell on the number, he closed the phone and lift off the roof of the building.

* * *

He broke through the low cloud and weaved into the gap of buildings over the streets. He rocketed over the crowd below, causing several to drop what they were doing and looked up. He made a wide turn and flew down another wide gap in the buildings, barrel rolling as he passed a red flying car and into a break from the sky scrappers, and over the last of the fall leaves of Centennial Park.

As he flew over the pond, Calvin wobbled. He caught himself and leveled out, somewhat lower then before. He put his hands to his side, intending to speed up. However, another bout of turbulence and he stumbled as he slowed. He began to pick up speed as the ground began to come closer to greeting him. The gravity of the earth was the only force causing him to move as he fell, head first, into the park, plowing through a muddy wooded part of the park.

Calvin shook his head as he pulled himself out of the mud and looked at his hands in horror. Was Ryder right? Did J'onn do something to make him powerless? Another thought met him as he stood up: He was wearing the Superman suit in the middle of a dark Centennial Park, and loosing his abilities. To add to the horror, he had attacked the city the other day while wearing the "S".

_Just a mad dash to a cache, _he thought as he breathed in, hoping that not every thing cut out. He began to run, moving in a blur and dodging slow moving objects that were unaware of his presence. He moved through the streets at a high velocity, making his way to the Queensland Park Bridge.

As he rushed down a particularly busy square, the people around him began to speed up. It took Calvin a few minutes to realize that, like everything else, he was loosing his Super-speed as well. In the middle of the Square, his speed returned to normal human levels. The boy stopped running and looked around. A good number of people were staring at the now de-powering fallen hero.

WHAM! Calvin fell forward with the force of a painful blow. He landed on the pavement, looking at a plastic bottle that fell behind him. He got to his feet and looked at the crowd. A very angry man was looking back.

"Murder!" the man yelled as the crowd looked to him, "you killed those people and the JLU let you off."

"That wasn't… I wasn't thinking straight," Calvin meekly responded

"You think that plee will get me out of jail if I kill you?"

"Sir," Calvin tried to protest, "its a lot more complicated then…"

"No it isn't," he retorted, "you showed your true colors. And now," the man tossed another bottle, hitting the boy in the eye, "you don't have your powers."

A woman in the crowd followed suit, throwing a Styrofoam container of leftovers. Another man in the crowd tossed a fountain soda cup as others jeered. Calvin turned and pushed through the crowd, several threatening to push back. As he made his way through the mob of people, Calvin's eyes began to glow red with anger. They discharged a warning shot into a clear spot in the crowd, forcing the people in the group to back away as he ran down a lesser traveled street.

As he pelted full speed away from the crowd, a man grabbed his own hand and steered the terrified boy into an alley system. The made several twists and turns until the finally reached a door. The man put his hand on the access panel and tossed the boy into the dimly light room. Cal fell to the ground as the man walked over the threshold and into the light.

"Put these on," the man said, tossing Calvin a pair of jeans, thick glasses, and a red sweater, "so you can blend in without the mob."

"Ryder," Calvin said, getting to his feet, "you were following me?"

"I'm not here to play the 'whose side are you on' game, Calvin," the agent informed, "Your powers are failing, are they not?"

"Do you need to ask?" He asked, pulling on the jeans.

"I warned you this would happen," Ryder reminded, "I want to help you get them back. Get your life back."

"My life!" Calvin yelled, "The girl I have been crushing on since sixth grade thinks I am the biggest jerk on the planet. My brother is smuggling kryptonite around the house in case I loose control over my powers and fight my best friend's ex-girlfriend because my dad's boss is using a red rock to screw with my head. And while we're on the subject of my wonderful life, I'm being threatened to being kicked off the swim team because my coach thinks I'm back on performance enhancer's, I being chased by a man who claims to be working for the government, but is unconfirmed by all other means other then his own word, and I had a walking inferno and a vampiric wanna-be Supergirl who were ready to nuke me and turn me into a withered husk respectively. Yes, that's a great life. Who wouldn't want to live that life?"

"Why did you choose it then?"

"I don't know," Calvin answered, fiddling with the sweater, "Cause I thought it would be fun, I guess."

"Are you sure?"

"Like you would know any better?"

"Aurora Labs, September 16, 2070," the man stoically noted, "were you not there?"

"I'm not…"

"Were you, or were you not there the night your father's lab exploded?"

"I was."

"Why?"

"Because I… he… was… He was going to die."

"After Pandora opened her box," Ryder noted, "the one ill that was trapped was Hope. There are many ways to interpret the story, but one could see Hope as Hope for continual Evil, an opposite of the words positive nature. And so, with that one ill gone, man had the power to fight all the others: true hope, the ability to see the light when it is darkest. And for nearly one hundred years, the greatest hope humanity has is Superman. The world needs the continual hope and charity he provides. Superman is, ironically, the greatest embodiment of the human spirit. Think about my offer?"

* * *

"So he wants you to get your powers back?" Mike asked, confirming what Calvin had told the assembled group about the course of the previous night's events.

"Yeah," Calvin noted, "he seems official."

"Official how?" Linda asked, looking up from the computer, "He's not in any registries. Unless he's classified, we should have a Jon Ryder come up in the Bureau of Meta-human Affairs. But of course, the Bureau has no need to classify things."

"So the secret agent-shtick shouldn't be so secret?" Mike jokingly asked.

"It should be…"

"Why would people admit to having secret agents?" Calvin interrupted, "they're secret. They wouldn't have it on a web site."

"He's got a point," Mike noted.

"Okay, all we know is that he doesn't work straight up for the BMHA," Linda noted, "he could be working for them. He could be working undercover. He could even be working for someone opposed to the government. And if he gives you it, what's to stop him from pulling something and making you work for him?"

"There isn't a lot of things that Calvin would be affected by as Superman," Mike observed, "we can strike a deal that leaves all of those options that Ryder could have to control Cal out."

"And if he has another way?" Linda retorted, "Calvin is that an acceptable risk to getting your powers back?"

"What about the people out there who need Superman?"

"She's right," Calvin answered, "it isn't an acceptable risk."

"But there are a lot of people who will die!"

"And a lot more would die if I was used like the other night," Calvin replied, "the very real truth was that no matter how much control I have over myself as Superman, loosing it in the slightest could hurt people."

* * *

"…Police are still searching for the gunman with the death toll now at five," an electronic news caster calmly spoke, as if the news events were nothing new. The microwave in the kitchen bleeped, forcing Calvin to turn off the television and walked into the kitchen to pull his the Egos out of the box and walked to the informal table in the other room.

As he bit into the one of the pancakes, Mike walked down the stairs and flipped the TV back on. The image sat on a clip of a person in a red and blue shirt flying over the camera.

"…Superman has not been seen in three days, and many Metropolites fear that the Teen of Steel has lost his powers," the reporting voice informed, "and of course the reaction is mixed."

"After what he did," an old man wheezed in the microphone, "I wouldn't be surprised if the government had anything to do with it."

"Turn it off," Calvin ordered as he took a bite from his breakfast.

"I hope not," a younger woman replied on the television, "you know, I think the league is telling the truth, and he has done a lot of good."

"See," Mike pointed to the screen, "other people want you back."

"I said," Calvin yelled as the door bell rang, "turn it off!"

"Come on," Mike said as he did what his brother asked, "what happened to the Calvin who would put his butt on the line for people like them?"

"His butt got bit," Calvin loudly yelled as he pulled open the door and turned to face the person on the other end. A short girl with short blonde hair and blue eyes was looking back at him, "Holly, what brings you here?"

"I think I interrupted the awkward end of that conversation," she said, adjusting a green hat against the cold. She held up her right fist, revealing a green ring. "Can we talk?"

"Sure," Calvin said, grabbing his book bag and flinging it onto his shoulder, "what's up?"

Holly looked over at the blonde boy across the room and then back at the brown haired one, "On the way to school," She whispered.

"Sorry," Calvin said as he walked out into the cold air and closed the door behind him, "so, what's up?"

"I wanted to ask you to do me a favor," She began as she walked down street, "please don't tell Linda that I'm the Green Lantern. You know, keep the secret."

"So I'm being demoted to side-kick?" Calvin sarcastically joked.

"Pretty much," Holly chuckled, "trying to keep you in the loop. You know, after your powers disappeared, I figured you still want to be in the hero game, and thought playing the other side of the game would at least keep you from doing something stupid."

"Am I being monitored?"

"I'm sorry?"

"I read that loosing powers is a horrible experience for people with them," Calvin said, shoving his hands into his pockets, "it's like a depression. Like a death of self. Having them was such a big part of their life, loosing them is like actually dying. And they have thoughts about doing things."

"Do you have thoughts, Calvin?"

"I have dreams about it," Calvin hollered, "I have dreams about flying. Soaring through the clouds during sunset. Feeling the night air on my face and seeing a million stars. That's what I think about."

"You can't fly anymore, Cal," Holly reminded, "Do you have thoughts about suicide?"

"I'm almost 18. I don't know what I want to do with my life, except help people, and the best way I could do that is now gone," He informed, "What do you think?"

"You are still dodging my question. Yes or No? Has the idea crossed your mind?"

"Yes."

* * *

Lunch crept by slowly as Calvin picked apart his sandwich, tearing the tomato off the bread. He looked through the dimly light room as Mike joined the table and pulled out his own brown bag. The two brothers sat in silence, the elder not wishing to look at the younger. Mike made several noises, trying to get the brown haired boy's attention. None succeeded.

"Okay, I give up," he finally yelled, breaking the silence, "what happened to the invincible Super-Calvin persona?"

"I'm not super any more, remember," Calvin remorsefully replied.

"What about helping complete strangers," Mike reminded, "that was pretty super." Calvin looked down at his lunch, not responding. "What is acceptable loss anyway?" Mike asked, "The sacrifice of a few for the good of many? So you're going to stop saving lives because there is a slight chance that you could be used as a weapon? What if there was another way?"

"Like what?"

"Offer to bring the people they want to them to stand trial," the blonde suggested, "if he's with the government. If he isn't, don't take his offer. But try to listen to his side of the argument. But I think the world needs someone like you as their strongman. The fact that you don't want these powers because you fear the harm you could cause is the strongest evidence that you should have them."

"You'd do the same, wouldn't you?" Calvin asked.

"I'd like to think that," Mike thought, "but I'm not sure."

"Yes or No question," Calvin forced, "If you had the powers of a Kryptonian, do you think that you would do the same thing I did?"

"No."

* * *

The rest of the school day was uneventful, and the second the bell rang, Calvin rushed for the nearest magnet train. He paid the boarding fee, he took a seat in a train leaving the station and watched as the suburban portion of the city disappeared against the speeding train. The train stopped at a few stations before coming to his stop. The electronic sign above his head read Bridge Park. He got up and stepped out of the slow moving train and onto a the platform, making his way to down to the street level.

The boy paced down sidewalk, folding his hands into his jacket pockets and walked into the park. The small area overlooked a large bridge, painted in rust proof coating, which ushered traffic from the Queensland Park borough to New Troy. Years ago, someone could cross the bridge's pathway and walk into the city. Now, with the streets buried under ground, the bridge walk way was closed off half way over the bridge.

"Still wanted to feel the wind in your face?" A familiar voice called out. Calvin turned, spying a girl with black hair behind him.

"Do you blame me, Lin?" He joked, "What are you doing here?"

"Saw you rush off after school," She replied, "figured you were off to do something crazy and need a friend to help."

"Just trying to fill free time," Calvin said as she caught up to his pace, the pair still walking up the path towards the bridge.

"Unlike you, who budgets his time so he can save the world and do his homework, I will be feeling this trip tonight," Linda lamented, "the cruelness of it all."

"I have math homework at normal speeds now," Calvin joked, "not so much free time."

"You did it before," Linda rebutted, "by the way, did you hear about Luke and Morgan?"

"No, what happened?"

"Broke up. Big fight apparently."

"Really," Calvin smiled, "and you're telling me this because you're glad he's on the market?"

"Or she," Linda joked, "can't say no to every option."

"Morgan is out of your league."

"Well, we can have a competition," Linda laughed, "first one to get Morgan on a date gets…" She trailed off as she stopped dead cold on the bridge. The boy followed her gaze to a man in a tan trench coat and a matching hat, and his eyes froze as well.

"Have you made your decision, Calvin?" Ryder asked across the gap.

"He doesn't want it," Linda hollered back.

"This is Calvin's choice, and he needs to make it," The man replied. He then turned his head towards the boy "What is your decision?"

Calvin looked at Linda, and then walked closer to the man. "I want to know your full terms for getting my powers back," He answered, drawling a scared look from Linda, "then I'll make up my mind."

"Calvin," she whispered, "this isn't what we talked about. What about acceptable losses and…"

"What about the people who will die if he has no strings attached?" Calvin asked. He turned towards the man and looked at him, "I want to help people. I don't want to kill for your own agenda. I want to know how I'm getting my powers back, what I will need to do, and who you work for."

The man smiled and held up a fist. A finger went up for each of the answers, "One, you have always had your abilities since the night we met in New Troy. Two, It is your own inner demons that are suppressing your powers, so you must deal with that issue. I can help only if you want your former life back. Three, I work for the Justice League."

"Calvin," Linda gasped, "he's bold face lying to you. You know the stir he caused on the watchtower. Batman didn't know about him. And he said he was with the Bureau of…"

"…of Meta-human Affairs," Calvin finished, "I know." He looked at the man, and then back to Linda. "He says I already have my abilities. He isn't holding them over my head, I have his bargaining chip. I'm going to hear him out."

"Calvin," Linda pleaded, "Don't."

"What's the first step?" He yelled at the man.

"You need to trust yourself," Ryder said, motioning towards the red rails at the edge of the bridge, "fly."

"Calvin, you aren't a little weirder out by this?" Linda asked, paniced.

"What if I don't fly?" Calvin inquired, "What if… What if I fall?"

"That is why it is called a leap of faith, Calvin," the agent noted, "you must make the choice and believe in yourself."

"Come on, Calvy," Linda proclaimed, sounding very exacerbated, "he's a loon trying to get you to commit suicide for God knows why. Don't listen to him."

"Yeah," Calvin faintly said, mulling something over in his mind, "Yeah, you're probably… What did you call me?" He asked, looking her in the eye. He looked back at the man and then at her. She stared back at him, eyes wide with fear. Calvin quickly turned and ran for towards the agent, aiming for the rails. He made three steps before a gust of wind flew past him and Linda was standing in front of him, holding out her hand. He couldn't stop and plowed right into her palm, hitting it with a force very much like a brick wall.

As he fell to the ground, the girl's flesh erupted into flames, causing a responding Ryder to back away a few feet. As Calvin looked up, the face of his best friend melted away. In her place, stood a mirror image stood, staring right back at him. "Well, well, well," the crazed version of himself chuckled, "finally you got it. I was beginning to think that only three girls was enough to satisfy you. And that was sad."

"What are you talking about?" Calvin asked. His mirror image snarled and tossed him aside, into the traffic, which now seemed at a standstill as he landed on top of a sedan.

"Ever hear of lucid dreaming?" the other Calvin retorted, hovering above the first, "It's a state of mind where you have total control of your dreams because you recognize them as dreams. And you are in mine. Of course, right now, since I am in total control, I'll just steal away your ability to see this as a dream." He flew down on top of the boy, leveling the car and causing Calvin to open his mouth to let out a wordless scream of pain.

"And as gay as it sounds, guys don't dream about girls," the crazy Calvin said, getting up and tossing the boy aside, "so I had to cover that to keep you from thinking that this was a dream. And when the body woke up, I would have been in charge, and you would still be here in Lala land. But now the only way to keep you here," he noted, "is to physically keep you here. As in tie you up in the steel beams. And when we enter the next R.E.M. cycle, you'll think this nifty little dream universe will be as it always was. Just as ordinary and Superman free as your old…"

Out of no where, Ryder tackled the crazed Calvin, slamming the boy into a tractor trailer, causing the vehicle to tip over. The other Calvin wordlessly got up, in time to see Ryder's visage change into an alien shape. He mouthed the name of the person who had been helping him in his dreams: The Martian Manhunter.

"Calvin," the green man ordered as the other one lifted himself out of the hole, "Jump! Now!"

"No, Calvy," his double cackled, flying towards him and scooping the silent boy up, "don't do it, we all love you."

The monster's actions where halted when the Martian tossed a fist to the boy's gut, causing him to drop the powerless Calvin, who fell ten feet to the ground, slamming into the deck of the bridge.

"Now, Calvin," J'onn ordered as he tossed the crazy boy into the opposite trussles, "Jump! Hur…ARRG!"

The crazy Calvin had fired a direct shot of heat blast towards the Martian Manhunter, causing the alien to fall to the ground, writhing in pain from the heat that his body could not stand. The silent Calvin turned to try and help, but J'onn only pointed to the side of the bridge. Calvin made a break for it as his mirror image looked up. He lifted off the ground and flew towards his powerless counter-part, barely missing the boy as he hopped over the guard rail and jumped over the water, as if diving, forcing the monster above him to follow suit. The waves on the bay sped closer to the two falling bodies as the boys picked up speed and then, Calvin blacked out…

* * *

Calvin watched as his father closed his laptop and got up from the desk. The man pushed the swivel chair and walked towards the door. The brown haired boy backed away as the man cam closer, pushing himself into a wall until his body melted along the contours of the metallic barrier. It wasn't a perfect match, the boy mused, but with the darkness of the hour, it would go un-noticed.

And it did. The man walked right past the silver blob on the wall, not showing any interest past the file he was reading. After he passed on, the metallic mass stirred, retaking its shape as the boy the man called his son. As he peeled himself off the wall, Calvin's feet fell heavily on the floor.

Dr. Lark looked up and turned his head to look for the noise. Nothing was behind him. He made a full one eighty with his body, looking down the dimly lit halls. "Anyone there?" He called out. When no answer came, Daniel turned right around, coming face to face with Calvin.

"Hello, Father," The boy spoke as the man leapt back in fright, spilling his papers on the floor. When the man recomposed himself, the boy smiled, "Of course, we both know the validity of that statement."

"How did you…" Daniel stammered.

"…Get in?" The boy finished, "That is a long story. The condensed version," he said, raising his right hand, which had now taken on a shape more like silver metallic tendrils then actual fingers, "Mr. Luthor will see you now."

* * *

"Dad," Calvin screamed as his eyes flew open as he lifted himself off the concrete floor of the empty building. Around him was a man with almost silver skin, and stood. Next to him was the familure green skin alien. Calvin looked at the Manhunter, with wide fear filled eyes. "How long was I out?" Calvin asked.

"Seconds," J'onn responded, "a dream in a human mind is only seconds of synaptic response. But the person perceives it as much longer because the rest of the mind does not work that fast."

"So we're still…"

"…in downtown New Troy, in an empty building." Captain Atom informed, "Green Lantern is doing a search for casualties. So far, nothing major."

"So you were Ryder all along?" the boy asked the green man.

"Who really is an agent in the Bureau of Meta-human affairs," the alien informed, "One of my many identities. I used it to keep tabs on those the league cannot monitor or don't have the resources to monitor. And maybe help give them a push in the right direction."

"What was the dream thing about, anyway?" Calvin asked.

"The part of your mind that you were fighting realized that the pair of you could control the environment, and constructed a dream universe that was incredibly life like," J'onn informed, "had you transferred into the next R.E.M. cycle, you would have been lost forever in that world."

"It was so real I just…"

"It was real because your mind was tormenting itself," the Martian Manhunter informed, "of course it had to make your life more appealing in that world, but that life had to be believable. So bad things, like the death of the people in the building collapse and your personal problems, had to happen as well in order to make it convincing."

"And what about that other dream? The one with my dad," Calvin asked.

"I'm not sure, It didn't follow dream logic, and the persona you were fighting was gone," the alien explained, "I only briefly glimpsed it, so I don't know if it was true at all. Most likely it was a real dream."

"I need to help those people," the boy said, jumping quickly to his feet, "if there are people in the rubble, I need to get them out."

"Hold on, sparky," the silver man yelled, holding his hand in front of the kid, "those people out there are probably going to be scared out of their minds. Why don't you call it a night?"

"Someone told me Superman is all about hope," Calvin replied, pushing the man's arm out of the way, "so I'm going to give them hope. Red Kryptonite won't stop that." And with that, he rushed out of the room at an incredible speed.

Captain Atom looked at the Martian Manhunter, who had a concerned look on his face. "Nothing's wrong with the kid, right?" he asked. J'onn shook his head.

"To get a portion of the mind to gain its awareness like that, you would need a powerful telepathic broadcast," the green alien noted, "more powerful then I could produce naturally. It was one of the most difficult mental influences I have ever encountered. Red Kryptonite, like the boy believes, could never do what that did."

"So the question remains," Nathaniel noted, "who can do that?"

* * *

Daniel woke up on in a darkened high story office. He got to his feet and looked around, noticing the opened window. The cityscape outside looked familiar. The man walked for the door, which opened before he could reach it. The boy from the lab walked in and looked at the man. His form flickered silver as another man entered after him. This one looked was instantly recognized by the doctor.

"Luthor, what's going on?" He demanded.

"Do you like the new toy I found?" The CEO asked, "I've managed to gain full access to Brainiac."

"So you make him take the shape of my son and abduct me?"

"His choice in appearances is long result of your son's involvement in the alternate reality," Luthor vaguely explained.

"How did you do it?" Daniel asked, looking at the silver robotic statue.

"I still have possession of the anti-life equation," Luthor exclaimed as the doctor looked up.

"The what?"

"It's an object that strips away the free will of the target," Luthor explained, "aptly named because of one who has lost all free will, you have no life. Unfortunately you have been a little uncooperative in our venture. I can even have them see it as something completely ordinary, like a cellphone or Red Kryponite. And since I can't have you second guessing my projects ultimate goal."

"What are you going to do?" the doctor asked.

"I'm going to help you get a better work ethic," the bald man said, holding a glowing sphere of light up towards Dr. Lark. His mind went blank as the room went dark…

* * *

Calvin returned home late at night and fell asleep. He had no dreams, no nightly visits, just a deep dreamless sleep. It was several hours before the sun crept into his eyes, forcing him to wake up well into the early afternoon. He pulled himself out of bed and looked out the bed room window. His eyes fell on an odd car in front of the house, marked with the tell-tale MPD star on the door.

The boy pulled on a shirt and rushed downstairs to find his mom talking to a young officer.

"What's going on?" the brown haired boy asked, inflecting confusion.

The officer looked at Susan and backed away as the woman faced her son.

"Calvin," she delicately said, "Your father didn't come home last night. He's missing."


	8. Just Like You

**Journal of a Superman**

By S.P. Bley

Just Like You

"To Be, or Not to Be," the actor on the stage recited, "That is the Question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of fortune, or take arms against a see of troubles, and by opposing, end them…"

Calvin sat in a seat mid-way up the auditorium, watching the man on stage prance around in his tights while he delivered the soliloquy. Of course, he couldn't complain. He and the man both had jobs that involved the wearing of tights. His was just better it seemed. At least when he went out in public in his PJs, he didn't get snickers from the less literate members of the English class that were giggling about the fact that it was an authentic Shakespeare play; right down to the casting.

"So," Linda whispered as the recitation continued, "how do you like the play?"

"It's a drag," Calvin monotonously stated.

"Cute," Linda sarcastically remarked, "are you paying any attention to this?"

"I got out of a history test to see this," Calvin replied, "I'm just enjoying the procrastination."

"It doesn't speak to you?"

"It's barely English."

"You don't see the connection between you and what Hamlet is saying?"

"Hamlet's talking about suicide," Calvin noted, "not his missing father or half the shit I've been through in the past week."

"What about the thing…"

"Not going there in public, remember?"

"You know my feelings about what you're doing," Linda whispered over the teacher's glares of anger.

"Yeah," Calvin noted, "me thinks the lady doth protest too much."

* * *

As Robert continued on about the state of the stories, Michael fiddled with the computer. He was checking his e-mail, going through and deleting the junk that had accumulated in his folder from a week of neglect. He marked all the junk on the page for deleting, and clicked the button. The paged emptied the junk and refreshed. When the updated version came back, an unopened e-mail from the sender "?" was visible. He was about mark it for deletion, until he noticed the title: _On the Missing Dr. Lark. _Mike tapped the message link, bringing up the mail's contents. 

_Have you found any answers? No. Your father is missing and everyone is asking questions as to why. But they are not asking the right questions. You need the right questions to get the right answers. If you don't know what the question is, how can you be aware of the answer? I can help ask the right questions, but I need you to tell me the truth in the answer. Together, we can find your father. Are you in_

"_"_

_P.S. 3_

Mike looked around the room, and then hit the reply button. The message box came up with a copy of the e-mail in the bottom. He began to type out his message:

_Tell me who you are, and I am in._

And hit the send button right as Robert rounded the corner to bug him about the next article.

* * *

Sometime later, the students walked out of the New Troy play house. Calvin put up his hood against the stinging cold as the group walked towards the old dingy school buses parked in the structure down the street. As they walked closer a loud roar echoed through the concrete canyon. The school group turned and looked to see a behemoth flying through the sky. Calvin looked up as beast landed in the middle of the street, and stared directly at the group. A massive creature, nearly ten feet tall by Calvin's guess, stood before them. By the look of it, it was a splicer, but he looked like no animal the brown haired boy had ever seen. The creature stood on a pair of tri-dactyl feet, very much like a tyrannosaurus. A thick tail curled behind the creature, easily larger then any of the monster's limbs. His mid-section stood out by having not one, but two pairs of arms, and two large dragon-like wings were spread behind his massive back. The beast's face looked very reptilian as well, supporting a massive frill and opened up behind the jagged ears that looked more like fish fins. 

"Where is Superman!" the thing yelled as Calvin, with half the class as his cover, began to walk backwards away from the approaching scale green monster. "I know he can see this." The beast bellowed, as he raised all four massive fists and slammed them into the ground. Large fissures erupted from the impact sight, breaking away massive slabs of concrete and sending them to the ground.

"Calvin, you'd better get go…" Linda began, turning to see that he was in fact already gone.

"So tell me," a voice called out from above, "what brings the thing from the black lagoon all the way to Metropolis." Linda turned to see a masked man standing on a flag pole over the street. The Superhero above her had a very budgeted outfit, all of it seemingly recycled from other things: the pants and shirt from a martial arts school, a blue cape that was obviously a bed sheet, and a matching blue ski mask with only eye holes. Not the most impressive, but it got the job done.

"After what that creep did to my town," the creature roared, "I'm going to try and stop him for the safety of the city."

"Smashing a group of tourists so that you can make them safe," the masked man joked, "yeah, that makes sense. So how about you do us all a favor and…" The man leapt off the flag pole as the reptile picked up a street sign and chucked it like a spear at the caped man. The guy grabbed onto the side of the building and rocketed his right foot down towards the creature, hitting the monster head on, sending the creature flying some fifteen feet to the ground.

"That was a stupid move," the creature said, getting up to his feet, "I've gone up against Superman before and held my own."

"You," the masked man chuckled, "I'm sorry, but I think he's wiped the floor with every splicer imaginable. But then again," the man leapt over the charging monster, just barely clearing the creature's head, "you are un-imaginable." He landed, and grabbed the massive tail. With a great tug, he pulled the creature back and slammed it into the wall of the nearest building as sirens wailed in the background.

The creature jumped out of the impact crater and rushed towards the blue and white hero, who jumped up in the air as the thing threw two right hooks. Linda, the rest of the crowd, and the monster all looked up to see that the man was hovering some thirty feet off the ground. The massive wings of the monster spread and made a large flap that kicked up the dust on the street. It rose up to meet the hero, ready grab the man in a massive bear hug. However, the vigilante was quicker, flying in a blur of blue and white into the gut of the dragon. The monster wavered in the sky, and fell back to earth with a massive thud as several police hover cars began to land. The first few officers rushed out of the squad car and administered the antidote to the splicer formula.

The dragon man began to revert back to a normal human as the masked man flew off. He streaked into an alley not to far away and landed on the ground. As he did, the boy pulled off the ski mask, revealing the face of Calvin Lark.

"Kilojoule strikes again!" a voice called out behind him. Cal turned to see Linda approaching from behind, half smiling, "I still like Superman better."

"Well, Superman has kind of been dragged through the mud enough," the boy replied.

"You know the person doing the worst mud slinging is you," Linda retorted, "Its how you get. Besides, that costume makes you look more professional."

"Everyone thinks I'm his kid or something," Calvin said, "I don't want that pressure. I want to be my own man."

"And the fact that Cree thinks the new Boy Scout should be locked up for the damage he caused isn't a driving factor in this new persona?" She asked. Calvin looked up, quizzically at her. Linda only smiled, "You're a guy. You are not that hard of a nut to break."

* * *

"How much is he at?" the doctor asked, looking into the on way glass. On the other side, a boy, no older then 17, stood holding a very large series of metal disks with very little effort. 

We are applying six thousand pounds of pressure to the press," a technician read off the numbers from the computer, "that's the best we can do with this technology, Dr. Alva. He could easily quadruple the weight."

"And the protein anomalies?" the man said, adjusting his glasses, "Have we corrected them?"

"No," a woman reported, "his body is rejecting the corrections."

"So he's becoming a danger," Dr. Alva observed.

"If he were to rebel, future conditions aside," the technician noted, "we would be screwed."

"So," Alva mused, looking in on the black haired boy, "can he hear us?"

"No," the woman answered, "room's totally sound proof."

"We need to put him in the green room then?" Alva asked as the boy on the other side of the glass pushed the disks up into a lock on the ceiling.

"I'm afraid so," the woman somberly noted.

* * *

Mike dropped his books onto his bed and dropped into the swivel chair by the computer. His head fell back against the rest as he closed his eyes. People don't just reply that second to e-mails. He had to wait. But he was too excited to wait, and flicked the mouse connected to the laptop. The screen flashed up, and he signed into his user account. A window flashed the one message had arrived to his account. 

He clicked on the reply to "?" and waited for the screen to load.

_L dp dq dvnhu ri txhvwlrqv. Brxu iluvw: zkr zrxog jdlq iurp brxu gdg'v devhqvh? D frpsdqb lq klv ilhog? Zkdw grhv kh gr?_

"_**?"**_

_P.S. -5_

Mike screwed his eyes at the reply. It certainly wasn't anything he expect. There would have been a lot of things that needed to be changed, the language being a nice start. It didn't look like anything on Earth. There where two things he recognized, but the signature and the post script where not helpful.

"Michael," he heard his mother call from downstairs, "Uncle Sam is here." Mike had completely forgotten. Uncle Sam was an officer in the Metropolis Police Department. The boy had decided to go for a ride along for the school news paper, and his father's brother had pulled some strings to get him in his car. Of course, the real reason was practically obvious to every family member: Mike wanted to hear about any news about his father almost instantaneously. The ride along was his newest attempt after his mother restricted the length of time he could spend on the web watching twenty four hour news casts.

He logged off the computer and grabbed his coat, running downstairs to find the two adults in the living room. Sam looked just like his brother, only he was younger and still had his now dulling blonde hair. It was definitely his father's side of the family that Mike got his looks from.

"Hey kiddo," Sam said, ruffling the boy's hair, "ready to see a shoot out?"

"Sam!" Susan yelled.

"Sue," the uncle chuckled, "Superman will probably get there before we do. Or at the very least that knew guy, what's his name? Kilowatt, Kilogram…"

"K-kilojou-joule," Mike said, "Its unit-ts of energy-gy." He looked up at the other two people in the room. "C-calvin l-likes him," he said, covering the way he knew.

"I thought Calvin liked Superman?" Susan said, a little taken aback by the new information.

"Not s-since the inc-cident," Mike informed, "you know, l-lack of tr-trust-t."

"That's a shame," Susan somberly mused, "well, who ever gets there first is okay if you don't get in a shoot out."

"Alright, Sue," Sam said as he ushered his nephew out the door, "pick him up at the precinct in about two hours. Five if it's a hostage situation."

"Get out," she teased.

* * *

"You wanted to see me?" the black haired boy asked the woman lab technician. She looked up from some notes that sat on by a chemical reaction, into the boy's bright blue eyes. 

"Mark, we need to run some tests," She coldly said, choking back what was about to happen?

"Nothing painful," he asked with wide eyes. Her pause took him back, and he cracked a smile, "JK, Dr. Reynolds."

"Hm," She said, her attention being drawn back to the notes and then to the boy, "oh, no, I had my mind on something else. I have a problem with a guy..."

"Dr. R, I thought I was the only man in your life," he teased.

"No, I well, I need to let him go, and it will devastate me and him, but," She broke off.

"It needs to be done because neither of you are happy?" Mark continued.

"No, I am," She asserted, "He just behaves like another guy at times. One that let me down once."

"Doesn't he deserve a chance?" The boy asked, "I mean, he's not the same exact guy is he?"

"That's what I'm afraid of," Dr. Reynolds replied.

"I'd give him the chance," Mark said. She looked up at him and smiled, "I mean, did you see how much I was lifting a few hours ago? Guy does the same thing to me that he did to you, he'd be dust."

"Get in the room," She chuckled, motioning to a small room in the wall. Mark smiled, and walked towards the door.

"Will this take care of the pain I've had?" He asked. She looked at him, eyes wide. "You know, the pain you guys are all worried about."

"Yes," Reynolds said, "no more pain after this." She left the lab and walked towards the control room. She entered the room and squinted her eyes at the calm blue light that was being emitted from the computers.

"What took you so long, Doctor," Alva barked.

"Get it over with," she retaliated, looking up at the screen, which showed Mark being strapped onto the table. She turned her head away in shame as the assistants left the small room.

"Beginning operation Green Room," one of the men at the computers announced, "phase one."

Inside the room, Mark took a deep breath as he heard machines begin to whirl. Unlike most of the test rooms, it wasn't totally sound proof. He heard voices from the outside about this test. It apparently was an important one; everyone was holding their tongues. Still, the control room was sound proof.

"Vitals are normal," Alva read, "Wong, give me a reading on his nervousness."

"I think he's aware that it's big, but nothing out of the normal," he said.

"Reynolds," Alva barked, "blood pressure?"

"Normal," she said, "for him."

"Move to phase two," Alva ordered.

Inside the small room, a tiny noise sounded. Mark looked over to the panel on the wall closest to the door. He looked over as a bright green light flooded the space around him. "No," he said as his body cringed in pain.

"Kryptonite in place," Wong read. Reynolds shut her eyes and looked at the screen as the boy began to convulse.

"Heart rate and blood pressure dropping," she reported as a tear rode down her cheek.

"Adrenalin rising," Dr. Wong reported, "respiration increasing. Blood oxygen levels are… rising!"

"Double-check that," Alva ordered.

"I did sir," the man responded, "they're increasing."

"Blood pressure and heart rate are returning to normal," Reynolds exclaimed, "it's like he was scared, but the initial shock is gone."

"The kryptonite isn't having any affect?" Alva asked as everyone in the room looked up on the screen. The boy pushed his body against the straps. With a small push, the leather snapped, releasing Mark's arm. He reached over to the other strap, and pulled it out off, bringing chunks of the table with it. He walked over to the source of the green light, and picked up a chunk of kryptonite and examined it, contemplating the reason why it was not harming him.

Then, in a blur of motion, he tossed the chunk at the door with such force that it passed right threw the door and shattered at the far end of the lab. He then moved at super-speeds threw the broken entrance, smashing it beyond recovery and out of the camera's view.

"We need to get out," Wong said as he raced for the door. He put his hand on the knob, but was quickly thrown back as the door shattered. The occupants in the room stood up and looked directly into the face of a very angry Mark. He looked at each one individually. They were standing here for, one reason or another; they had each worked to hurt him. Now it was his turn. His eyes glowed a cool blue as a beam fire at them towards the ground. A thick layer of ice began to form around the door, starting from the floor and slowly working its way up to the ceiling. When the threshold was totally encased, Mark ran back down to the lab and into the view of the camera. With an explosive force, the boy dropped his hands into the concrete, digging towards a large pipe. The boy grabbed the metallic cylinder and pulled it into the room, ripping it through the floor. A tiny haze flew out of the pipe as Mark lowered close to the break he had caused. He pursed his lips and exhaled.

A jet of orange flame shot from his mouth towards the opening in the pipe as the world moved in slow motion for Mark. The fire caught and expanded with the gas, as if a red hot bubble blown by an angry child. Mark turned as the bubble expanded, giving birth to new bubbles, and ran out of the room as the fire and force approached. Out in the hall, he turned towards a glass window and leapt, his body being propelled forward by an invisible energy, and crashed through the pain as the explosion followed behind. The boy had flown off in the night, greatly outpacing the shockwave.

* * *

"So, how's your mom doing?" Sam asked as the car rounded a corner and begin to drive down a street. 

"You know, sh-she's okay," Mike answered.

"And you're brother?" the cop asked, "How's he doing?"

"C-cal t-took it a l-little hard," Mike responded, "I th-think we all did, b-but he's h-had nightmares abo-out it. H-he won't a-adm-mit it, but I've h-heard him in his sleep-ep."

"What's he been saying?"

"N-nothing I r-recognized mostly," Mike admitted, "but he -hhas said 'd-dad' a c-couple of t-times."

"Could be nightmares any ordinary person has when something tramatic happens," Sam noted.

"Cal isn't r-really th-that ordinary wh-when it comes to dr-dreams," Mike mused, "he has w-weird ones."

"Car 83-19," the radio buzzed, "this is dispatch. We have some calls coming in about an explosion in the south-side."

"10-4, inbound," Sam noted, "I will need someone to relieve me soon, I have a ride along."

"10-4," the dispatcher radioed. Sam turned on the sirens and made a left at the next light. He sped along for a few minutes before the car stopped in front of a lot filled with smoldering wreckage. Sam looked at the sight and sighed as several locals started to walk out of the neighboring buildings.

"Stay in the car, Mike," he said as he got out, "and don't talk to anyone." Sam walked away from the driver's side door and too the collapsed building. As he did, Mike turned his sights to another responding officer, who was holding up a green crystal. It sparked slightly, and then began to emit a soft blue glow. With this in sight, Mike sunk low into his seat and pulled out his cell phone. Telling others about an ongoing investigation was not in his own best interest, but truth be told, he had to let his brother know what was there.

A couple hundred feet away, a black haired boy silently landed in the alley way. Mark poked his head out and down the street, looking at some of the first responders arrive. He strained his eyes, examining the pile of rubble. Slowly, the outer layers dissolved away, revealing the survivors buried in the wreckage. It would take a miracle to get to those traitors in time.

He moved closer to blend in with the forming crowd. His ears kept sharp, trained for mention of the program. Mostly, it was just people who heard the boom and where asking what the police knew. Mark, however, was in the unique position of knowing the answer to everyone's question. And that meant he was a person of great interest. While he should be flying away, he had been taught the need to blend in and not make a scene. He would gather info and determine if it was safe to hunker down in…

"… Yeah, there's Kr-kryp-pton-nite h-here," the black haired teen heard, "It's w-weird, but you ran into r-red a few… okay, I won't mention the red stuff." Mark looked through the gathering for the source of the sound. It was a young voice. Too young to be a cop.

"… D-don't kn-know wh-why its h-here, but I th-thought we h-had… well no, S-sam's not in the car-ar." Mark looked towards the line of police cars. No head inside. He squinted as the vehicles became transparent, revealing a boy on a cell phone inside of one of them.

"Well if you can f-fly me back, I'll show you," Mike said.

"Why are you coming?" Calvin answered.

"Wh-who's gonna p-pull you out of a cr-crime s-scene if it is the gr-green stuff?"

"Fine," he conceded, "now let me go back to studying with Cree."

"En-enjoy your m-make-out s-session with her," Mike teased as he hung up the phone and stuck his head back into window view. He looked around at the crowd, noticing a kid about Calvin's age staring back. The teen turned away and forced his way through the crowd.

* * *

"So, big green and scaly down by the theater today," the web image of Linda's head reported over the computer's speakers, "none other then Sean Townson." 

"Arch? The scorpion splicer who was in on the whole incident with the Superman serum?" Calvin asked as he pulled out the white martial arts jacket he had been using for the substitute costume, "He didn't seem like he knew it was me."

"At least he's moved on to less icky creatures. How do you figure he got out?"

"Beats me, I didn't even know where he was being held," Calvin admitted, "maybe some of the splicer gang. Or those Snake cultists. What are they, Kobra?"

"Yeah," Linda sighed, "look you know, he's just gonna get pissed when he gets out again."

"If dragon boy knew I was the guy that got the juice," Calvin reminded, "he would have mentioned the name. Me, not Superman."

"If he comes for you… so what is your plan for tonight."

"Telling the little bro finally payed off," the boy informed, "Uncle Sam took the kid to an exploded lab."

"Why is that so important?"

"Meh, something to do."

"As Super…"

"We don't use that name in the house."

"Grow up Cal," Linda barked, "you know, you're not the first superhero to screw up, let alone the first to be hated by the people you protect. So why don't you do what ever it is you do in the Superman suit and stop using Kilojoule to run from your problems."

"For some one who hasn't told her parents about her interests in women," Calvin began, "you seem to be pushing 'facing problems' a bit much."

"THAT IS DIFFERENT!"

"So are you going to tell your mom and dad?"

"Don't play that card," Linda snapped, "this is different and you know it."

"Why? Civic pride?" Calvin questioned, "Metropolis has gotten along just fine without Superman for a year…"

"…Your pride, you idiot," Linda blurted out, "Cal, I looked up to you for making the sacrifices needed to do the job you do. You earned the title…"

"…I was honoring the first!"

"…WHEN YOU HELPED THAT JUSTIN KID!" Linda finished her sentence. She looked away from the camera, lowering her voice, "it wasn't your problem and you didn't need to do it, but you helped him get away from those weirdoes. From what I remember, that was something the first Superman did." Calvin stared blankly at the screen, silence coming from the speakers. After some time, Linda looked back at the screen. "When I first learned about your accident, I was a little jealous. Who wouldn't want to fly like that. Not to mention the coolness of being a super hero. But if I had to say what one thing convinced me you were the right guy for the job, it was when you helped that kid. It was something I don't think I could do." And with that, the screen went black as Calvin looked at his new costume.

* * *

"…Stay tuned for scenes from our next episode," the character's voice over ordered as the old woman got up from her chair. She was followed by a large dog, mean looking dog. Lana knew that the animal was harmless. Brutus just helped keep the unwanted people away from her house. His bark was a lot worse then his bite and the old dog knew it. 

"…After _Tomorrow Star,_" a female anchor's voice announced, "dramatic footage from Queensland Park where a lab explosion has residence fearing for their health. What it could mean for you, next." Lana dropped her plate and glass in the sink and hobbled back to the chair as the last of the clips from the preview finished and the credits rolled. Footage began to roll of people watching milling around smoldering wreckage. The camera panned around the crowd, passing someone who looked vaguely familure to the elderly viewer.

Her eyes widened as she grabbed the remote and hit a button. The image on the screen paused and rewound frame by frame, bringing the black haired boy back into view. Her eyes grew larger as the darted from a picture frame lying on the coffee table and then back at the boy on the screen. It was uncanny. She picked up the childhood photo and looked once more at the young face in the TV, then on the film. The other person in the picture was almost identical to the guy on the TV.

"My God!"

* * *

The flight down was silent between the two brothers. It wasn't as if Mike needed to point directions to the building: it was in the same district as his father's lab. A plume of smoke also gave away the tell tale signs of a wrecked building. Mike felt slightly awkward as they flew towards the building. Something about his brother wearing a mask. That might be how they did it in Gotham, but it was still weird here. The blonde haired boy figured that it was weird in Gotham too, but that was how Batman worked. 

The boys landed in an alley that looked out towards the taped off segment of the town. As he did, Calvin looked around at the debris field, his eyes flashing as he switched to x-ray. Two images came up almost instantly, barely moving, but still breathing underneath the clean up crews on top. Another item came into view of the masked boy.

"It looks like Kryptonite, a little," He informed his brother quietly as he scoped around and noticed something odd, "and lead."

"L-lead?" Mike's voice hissed with surprise.

"They were keeping something here," Calvin surmised, "or were planning two. Looks voluntary, like he or she chose to stay. There isn't enough of either to hold someone against there will."

"S-so it isn't a pr-prison for you?"

"No, in fact, I think they were running experiments like dad was. There are people underneath, I need to get them. I'll be…"

"Why are we whispering?" a third voice said from behind the two boys. Calvin stood up and turned around, seeing only Mike, who looked unphased.

"Did you say that?" Calvin asked.

"Say wh-what?" Mike questioned. Underneath his mask, Calvin's face contorted into a look of fear as he passed his brother and looked down the alley. There was something there, but before the he could get a look at the person at the end of the road, a gust of wind flashed passed the pair of them.

"You help those people in the building," the voice said, once again from behind Calvin. The hero turned to see a boy with black hair holding Mike in his arms as if a cop arresting a criminal, "and blondie goes the way of the Kryptonian dodo, Kilojoule. Or should I say Superman? You look like that new one underneath that mask."

"Who are… How do you know who I am?" Calvin asked, cutting off his first question for the more pressing revelation.

"Looked. Like you saw those people underneath what was the roof of the building," The boy sneered, "only I've been watching them die for a few hours. As long as I knew you were coming here."

"How?"

"Loose lips sink ships," he smiled, "Little brother was very, very loud over the phone."

"What," Mike said as he tried unsuccessfully to struggle free, "are you l-like S-superm-man or s-someth-thing?"

"Yes," the boy chuckled as his eyes began to glow ice blue, "and no."

Calvin reacted in slow motion as twin beams of blue light erupted from the kid's eyes towards him. As he sped away, the light impacted, creating a layer of jagged ice on the pavement. Calvin rushed at an accelerated speed to the kid, landing a direct hit to the boy's face. While the one super-powered teen was in shock, Calvin pried his death grip off of Mike.

"Run," Calvin instructed, "I've got him!"

"O-okay, but I th-thought of th-that plan fir-irst." Mike stated as he took off. Calvin turned to face the threat, only to see the boy charging at him like a missile. Calvin braced himself as the assailant collided, only to be thrown back to the ground. The masked boy jumped up into the air and dived towards his foe, striking with enough force to create rumble through the buildings. The black haired boy threw a punch towards the blue ski mask, only to be caught by the hero's fist.

"Why the new get up, poser?" the kid teased as he fought his hand free from the fist.

"Like you could do a better job?" Calvin asked as his grip was broken, "There are people who have needed your help for hours, and you would just let them die."

"They would have done the same if it was me!" The boy yelled, as he opened his mouth and a huge fireball erupted from his lips and knocked Calvin back to the ground, half the mask burned off.

"Who are you?" He yelled at the kid.

"I could ask the same of you," he snarled, "you're not Superman's kid, how could you have his powers?"

"What if I was related?"

"I'd know about that," he yelled as he picked up Kilojoule by the shirt, "I know a lot more about Superman then you think." The boy tossed Calvin into the air, arching him towards the center of the debris field, which he crashed into with a loud bang. Using his x-ray vision, Calvin saw he was only feet away from the trapped survivors. As he got up, a something grabbed him around the back of his neck, slamming him into the scrap and dragging him through it. After a few feet, the hand let go and Calvin came to a rolling stop.

As he rolled onto his back, the black haired teen mimicked his own earlier attack, diving from the air and slamming into Calvin's chest with a spectacular force. The building fragments gave way, and the boys began to descend into the damaged building until the momentum from the assailant ran out. As they slowed down, the dark metal was bathed in a bright blue light. Calvin looked up, expecting to see the kid's eyes glowing like earlier. How ever, he was surprised to see the boy in pain. Seeing his opportunity, Calvin leapt to his feat and tossed a powerful uppercut to the guy's chin, sending him flying back out of the hole as the blue glow faded, revealing the source: a blue crystal like rock. The brown haired boy quickly picked it up, and then dashed into the piles of destruction, closing in on the trapped victims.

Moments later, a stunned search group watched as the boy in the damaged Kilojoule outfit emerged from the mound of scrap, carrying two survivors, one woman and one man. Everyone stared as the he walked passed them, his cape completely wrapped around his head, and then took off into the night.

* * *

"You guys were attacked?" Holly reaffirmed loudly, causing a group of people to look towards their spot in the cafeteria. 

"Why don't you yell out my secret identity while you're at it?" Calvin hissed under his breath.

"Who would attack you in while you were in uniform? Didn't they see the S on your…"

"I wasn't in that costume."

"Which one were you in then?"

"Kilojoule," Calvin sheepishly admitted.

"So you're that idiot running around in his pajamas," Holly mused. She looked up at the guy across the table from her and chuckled, "sorry, it's just it's such a lame…"

"Everyone thinks that. Back to our business luncheon: Can someone upstairs get an analasis of the rock I found so I know what I'm dealing with?"

"Yeah, why, what's up with this guy?"

"I think he's something close to whatever I am, ya know."

"You think the splicers are at it again?"

"I don't know. It doesn't make sense. Certain things are wrong."

"Like…" She asked, motioning her hand for more details.

"Different powers. Like he shoots cold beams from his eyes and has fire breath."

"That's weird. Did you get a name? A villain handle? Any way of identifying him?" Calvin shook his head.

"Does the rock help?"

"For now it's all I got. It looks like K, but it's different."

"I'll have someone look at it then."

* * *

_L dp dq dvnhu ri txhvwlrqv. Brxu iluvw: zkr zrxog jdlq iurp brxu gdg'v devhqvh? D frpsdqb lq klv ilhog? Zkdw grhv kh gr?_

"_**?"**_

_P.S. -5_

Up in the news paper's room, Mike stared at the e-mail as he pulled bits of bread off his sandwich. It was completely illegible. He had tried everything, such as kicking off certain letters, and other childish tricks that came on the back of cereal boxes.

"What are you looking at?" A voice came from behind. Mike jumped and quickly turned to see the source: a red headed girl from his homeroom class.

"H-hey, K-kayla-la," He stammered, "just my e-e-mail. Wh-what are y-you d-doing up h-here?"

"Needed to get away from some people at the lunch table," She said as she looked at the message, "you're e-mail doesn't have any words. Just random letters."

"I th-think it's a-a kind of c-code," Mike speculated as she looked at the screen and squinted.

"Maybe a key?" She asked pointing at the post script, "what was the number on the last message?"

"Th-three, I th-think," Mike noted, "Pl-plus th-three."

"So," Kayla said as she pulled a piece of printer paper towards her and began writing the alphabet, "maybe he's using a cipher wheel. It's easy to set up an alphabet with one on top in lieu of the actual device." She then began writing a new Alphabet, starting with 'D' underneath the 'A' and moving up the line like a normal alphabet. "Hope this helps," she added as she handed the paper to him and took a seat at another computer. As Mike began to try and determine the letters message underneath the key, a big grin sat on his face as he determined the first letter in the message.

Half-way through the translation, the cell phone in his pocket rang. He checked the number, an unknown, and opened the phone.

"H-hello," he answered.

"Hi Mike, its Lana," the voice replied.

"Mrs. L-lang," Mike stuttered in surprise, "wh-what's up?"

"I saw something on the news last night," She explained, "and thought your friend would like to know about it."

"Wh-what d-did you s-see?"

"That's between your friend and me," the old woman snapped, "tell him to come quickly."

"Y-yes m-ma,am," Mike finished as he hung up and left for the cafeteria.

* * *

"Genetic offshoot and/or colonist of another planet? That's what Supergirl was," Holly wonder out loud. The lunch meeting had devolved into a guessing game as to the nature of the mysterious attacker was. 

"Why not?" Calvin said as he opened a fruit cup, "It could just be a clever duplication."

"Cal, everything you told me about that guy was not normal."

"When is anything we…"

"Cal," Mike's voice interrupted before he could finish the statement, "I n-need to tell y-you someth-thing."

"What's up?"

"It's a-a personal fam-family th-thing."

"Oh," Holly said, picking up her tray and standing up, "sounds important. I'll help you with your homework later, Cal."

"It can't be that…"

"Cal," Holly said, taking a much sterner tone, "family first, I get it." She walked away, dumping her tray into the trash and walking out of the door. When she was out of earshot, Mike looked over towards his brother.

"I th-thought she w-was a…"

"She is," Calvin said, "she's helping me with homework. This isn't family stuff is it?"

"Mrs. L-lang called and s-she w-wants to…"

"Who?"

"The woman who spoke after you at the memorial," Mike explained, "Superman 1.0's friend. Gave me the rock."

"And she got your number?"

"She m-might know-w B-batman or the…"

"Batman or the who?"

"Question," Mike said dazedly, "anyw-way, she w-wants to see y-you."

"Which me?"

"S-superman."

* * *

"_Lana," _Mark said, _"you look good for your age."_

"_You do too," _the woman said, _"why are you visiting? I thought the Justice League had something they needed you for."_

"_I needed to ask you a favor," _Mark answered, _"I need you to look after this." _He said, lifting a box up to the woman.

"_This is…"_

"_Kryptonite," _Mark interrupted, _"If something ever happened to me, I'd rather it be in the hands of a friend then an enemy."_

"_Then I'll keep it safe…"_

"Hey kid," a voice broke the dream, "kid." Mark's eyes flew open, taking in the view of the street he had fallen asleep. He bolted up and looked at the man. "Kid, I've been very nice, but I have to open up my store in ten minutes, and some runaway sleeping on the bench out side isn't good for business."

"Sorry," Mark groggily answered, "I'll… Uh…" The boy bent over in pain, clutching his stomach. It was like a numbing cold washed into him as he winced.

"You okay, kid?" the man asked.

"Yeah," Mark dismissed, "I'm fine."

"Listen," he said, putting the key into the shop door, "I have a brother who's a pastor, he might be able to…" the man turned around to see that the kid was gone. He scratched his head and opened the door to his shop.

The man took no notice as something flew over his shop and landed out of the view of the patrons on the street. The pain had come back. It was like that pain he had felt last night in the blue light of the wreckage; like the pains he had felt all his life. It was now subsiding, but it would come back. The only time he didn't have the pain was before the fight last night. It disappeared right before he broke loose. When he was surrounded by Kryptonite. That was the cure. He didn't know how, but something had gone wrong. But he knew where a cure was. But he first had to take care of a few loose ends.

* * *

"Cal," Holly said over the phone, "can you talk?" 

"I'm waiting for Mike, then we go see what the old lady wants." The brown haired boy said into the speaker, "Did you get something already?"

"It's an artificially created Kryptonite," She told him on the phone, "heated and treated with a DC current to reverse it's polarity."

"Radiation is still radiation, right?" Cal asked.

"Well, yeah," Holly said, beating around the bush, "but this one is drawling in radiation of a certain variety. Specifically, Green Kryptonite. In theory, it could make you stronger by removing residual you were exposed to."

"Thanks for the update," Calvin said as Mike approached, "I need to go." He hung up and dropped his phone in his pocket. Turning to the blond brother, Calvin smiled.

"Y-you d-did get th-the suit?" Mike asked.

"I did a quick change when I asked to go to the bathroom during history,"

"Glad to here the boy scout is back in town."

"Don't get your merit badges in a bunch," Calvin said as the pair of them walked towards the back of the school, "It's only to please an old lady. Then I get a new ski mask and matching cape, and Kilojoule is back."

"Up until getting the new ski mask," Mike noted as his brother began to pull off his shirt and glasses, "that's the spirit!"

* * *

"I'm here to see Dr. Alicia Reynolds," Mark said to the receptionist at the front desk of the hospital. The large woman looked typed on the computer for a few minutes, looked at the screen, and looked back at the boy. 

"Sorry, hon, but there isn't a doctor Reynolds employed here," She informed him.

"No," Mark corrected himself, "she's a pacient. She was admitted last night."

"Um-huh," The woman skeptically remarked, "you're not the first person from the Planet to come asking to see those two."

"Dr. Alva can go back to his company, live the rest of his life, and go to hell," Mark said, "I need to see Dr. Reynolds."

"How come?"

"She's," he paused only briefly before the idea came into his head, "She's my mother."

"Oh, I'm sorry, sweetie," the woman cooed, "She's in room 1055." She had the boy fill out the visitor's pass. After that, Mark walked towards the elevator, trying to look as innocent as possible.

* * *

After flying around Metropolis for fifteen minutes, the two brothers landed in the front lawn of an upscale St. Martin's Island home. As Calvin did not want to set off a scramble of jets, they had spent most of the flight hopping between clouds, and as such, both were extremely wet. With the houses, high walls, the passers-by did would not notice the brothers walking across Lana's lawn, up to the doorbell. It wasn't a long wait before the dog to begin barking, and then the heavy falling of tumblers in the locks. 

"Hello, Micheal," The elderly woman wheezed, "this is your friend? He looks taller on the TV."

"You wanted to see me, Mrs. Lang?" Calvin asked, using the Superman voice he hadn't adopted for quite some time.

"Yes, come in," She said, opening the door wider as jumped for Mike, "I was watching the news last night, when I saw this," she explained as the boys walked into the large living room. Calvin's attention turned to the screen which was stopped by the Tivo on the image of a black haired boy, standing in a crowd.

"He looked a lot like someone I saw a long time ago," She said handing the new Superman a picture frame, which he looked at. Two people were in the faded photograph: a young girl with red hair, and a smiling boy with black hair. He was nearly identical to the large image on the plasma screen TV.

"Mrs. Lang, how old is this picture?" Calvin asked as Mike darted from the photo to the TV.

"The photo was taken in the 1980s. 85, I believe," Lana answered, "Do you know who the guy in the photo is?"

"Th-that's the g-guy that attacked us-s l-last night-t," Mike observed, "H-how did y-you do that?"

She smiled, "Would you like to know who he really is?"

* * *

Alicia Reynolds looked out the window of her hospital, a look of fear on her face. She had been contemplating her role in the "accident" last night, and had gotten very little sleep. Was it wise of Alva to tell people it was a harmless gas main explosion, something much worse the a dissipate toxic gas. 

"Doctor," a voice called out. Reynolds eyes widened as she turned her had to the door to see Mark, holding a plastic medical skeleton skull between his palms, "it hurts when I do this." He brought his hands together, shattering the head with a loud snap. "At least it hurts the other person."

"What are you doing here? I thought you'd be long gone."

"Dr. R," Mark teased, "we have unfinished business. We both failed at killing the other. Way I figure, that means it's up season, for the pair of us."

"You wouldn't do it, everyone will know it was…"

"So, what will they do?" He asked, running so that he was really close to her with in the blink of a human eye, "I'm the first of a new human evolution. You told me I was the first human to develop something close to a Kryptonian physiology. And I'm actually immune to Kryptonite. How will they catch me?"

"There are other ways like ma…"

"Magic?" Mark laughed, "You're a scientist, you don't believe in that. And I'm not a real Kryptonian, am I."

"No, you…"

"Liar!" Mark yelled, causing Alicia's eyes to bulge in fear, "Do you know who Clark Kent is, doctor?"

"No," She whispered, "no I don't."

"A former mild-mannered reporter in the Daily Planet until the building was destroyed in a terrorist plot in 2009. That's when he became a full time super-hero. The original Superman, and the closest thing I have to a twin brother." Alicia's eyes seemed doomed to explode as he continued to talked, "I'm a clone of Superman, am I not, doctor?"

* * *

"That's Clark Kent," Lana informed, pointing to both pictures, "he was one of my friends when I was growing up in Kansas. It was later that he became Superman." 

"That guy is Superman?" Calvin restated, trying to grasp the statement that had just been announced to the room.

"No, he's too young," Lana said.

"I th-think we g-get that," Mike noted, "it's h-how is a y-young Clark Kent st-still alive t-today."

"He's pulled the return from the 'dead' before," the elderly woman mused, "It could be anything."

"A cl-clone?" Mike suggested, "th-they were all in the th-that L-LuthorCor-orp lab you sh-shut d-down."

"They were underneath red sun filters," Calvin stated, "powerless when the blast went off. They would have been vaporized."

"I thought Lex learned from the last time," Lana thought out loud. The two boys looked over at her, and then back at each other. Mike was the first to break the silence.

"What 'last time'?"

* * *

"That isn't true!" Alicia told her visitor. 

"When I went to bed," Mark confessed, "I saw into his mind. I knew what you didn't: who Superman was. For a while, I thought they were dreams. I didn't tell anyone about them. Who would believe a mild mannered in some kid's dreams. But last year, I saw the news papers reporting on the 60th year aniversery. Guess whose name popped up. So then I knew I wasn't crazy. And then there was research into twins sharing memories in a form of telepathy, and the rest seemed to click." He paused, taking in the doctor's face, wrought with horror. "Quite an oversight on your guys parts, huh? So you guys had to off me."

"Mark," the woman quietly said, "you're wrong."

"ABOUT WHAT," Mark screamed, "I know who I am! I know what you had to hide. I don't exist outside the world. I was a weapon, to be sold once R and D did their part. And I know, you thought it wasn't going to work out, and you needed to get rid of me. How am I wrong?"

"For the first part, we had no idea you were seeing his memories," Dr. Reynolds explained, "and for the second part, Superman isn't the donor." In a blur of speed, Mark raced over to her bedside, eyes glowing light blue.

"This test is pass/fail," Mark said in a low, menacing voice, "so make it count. Question one: Who is?"

* * *

"Luthor pulled a stunt like that back in the 90s," Lana explained, "and created an army of Superman clones. There were flaws in the cloning process, though, and the specimens eventually failed." 

"So they died in their tubes?" Calvin asked.

"No, Lex was testing one," she recalled, "and it went bad. Something wasn't right in its head. The rest died when this one destroyed the lab."

"Wh-what happened to h-him?" Mike asked.

"Came and went from time to time," the white haired woman, "eventually he was died of massive deteriation."

"So is guy him back from the dead?" Superman asked. Lana pulled out the an old news paper dated 2061. A picture of a man in a superman suit, with distorted chalk-white skin, was prominently displayed on underneath the headlines _10 year aniversery of the Bizzaro attack._

"Doesn't look like him, does it?" the woman asked, "this doesn't make sense though."

"Actually," Calvin said, looking at the photos, "I think it kind of does."

* * *

"You're a doctor, Doc," Mark said, as a gentle blue mist lifted off his glowing eyes and blew past his shaggy black hair, "you know how painful being frozen to death can be. Contrary to popular belief, Hell can be very cold. If you didn't clone me from Superman, then who?" 

"In 2051, Bizzaro died in an attack on Metropolis. His body was literally ripped apart," Reynolds explained, "the United States government officially put the remains off limits. Unofficially, Dr. Alva was in bed, literally and figuratively, with several people in DC. He managed to produce genetic samples."

"Why Bizzaro?" Mark curtly asked

"Mark, you need to understand the process Luthor used to create the first Bizzaro was decades ahead of anything anyone else had," She continued, "he had better tech, but wasn't letting anyone else access to it. So we had to go with the earlier stuff to make you. Part of the problem was the Bizzaro effect. Dr. Alva reasoned that there was a negative effect, and making you would make you a Bizzaro Bizzaro. A double negative if you will. A perfect copy of Superman."

"But I wasn't," the boy stated, "the reverse powers. The Kryptonite immunity."

"You weren't as simple as Alva thought, and we feared you were going to be another Bizzaro rather then another Superman."

"You never saw me as someone else?" he thought out loud.

"Well, genetically, you were Super…"

"I'm a person," Mark interrupted, "not a math problem to be solved." He doubled over, in pain like earlier. The Blue Kryptonite had done something more permanent to him.

"Mark," the doctor yelled as she got out of bed and hobbled over to the boy, "this is worse then before, right. Mark?"

"Get… away… from… me!" Mark said through his pains. He pushed the woman aside, launching her into one of the walls, which stopped her momentum, causing her to drop to the floor.

As blood trickled from the doctor's nose, the black haired boy stood up and looked at her, "My name… is Mark Reynolds," He stated matter of factly, tossing the visitor's pass in front of the woman, "Not Superman, not Clark Kent, not Bizzaro. I am their twin. I am not them!"

With that, he turned on his heel. In a blur of speed, he leapt into the air and rocketed through the window, and lifted himself into the atmosphere.

* * *

"Bizzaro acts as a negative of Superman," Calvin stated, "since two negatives make a positive, well, he's a positive." 

"With-ith one pr-problem," Mike pointed out, "he g-got the breath and eye p-powers backward-ards. H-how is that account-countable?"

As he finished asking his question, a jet of flame burned through the wall towards the blonde boy. In an instant, Superman moved to shield his brother from the heat, crouching the pair of them so that the fire was to their backs. As he did, another blur of motion broke through the hole, and swerved out of the boys' path. He stopped in front of Lana, grabbing her shoulders menacingly and looking her right in the eye.

"Where is it, Lang?" Mark screamed.

"What do you want?" The woman asked, "I don't know…"

"The Kryptonite I gave you, woman," he yelled, "Where is it?"

"I… I…" the elderly woman began, but before she could finish her thought, a red blue blur flashed in front of her eyes, knocking the clone away from her and through the wall to the outside. The blur stopped, and picked the guy up by the neck of the dirty t-shirt he was wearing. The two super powered teens looked each other in the eyes as Mark's face twist in disgust.

"You have annoying habit of interrupting my rage fueled rampages," the black haired teen spat.

"And you have an annoying habit of nearly killing people," Superman replied, as he slammed the boy into the lawn.

"I was wondering when we would start pounding each other to death," he teased, kicking his opponents feet out from under him. In a swift motion, he jumped to his feet, and slammed his fist into Calvin as he was falling from the last blow. The hero hit the ground with a tremendous force, setting off nearby car alarms. As he turned over, Mark landed on his foe's S shield and looked down. "I only want the Kryptonite I gave her." He said, his eyes starting to glow with a soft blue light.

"Sh-she doesn't h-have," Mike's voice yelled across the lawn, as both of the combatants looked over, "Sh-she g-gave it to m-me." Mark looked from Calvin to the soot covered boy, and in a quick dash, grabbed Mike and put him into a hostage hold.

"Where is it?" He asked.

"Wh-why do y-you n-need it?" Mike fired back.

"I can kill you with very little effort," Mark sneered, "You're not in a position to ask questions."

"And s-since I know wh-where it is," the blonde kid said, his dirt covered face making him look very resolute, "y-you're in no p-position to k-kill m-me." The clone looked extremely irked, but could not fight the logic of the situation.

"Mike," Calvin shouted, pulling himself out of the crater, "you can't…"

"I swear to God," Mark said, "you interfere again, getting my hands on green kryptonite won't be my biggest problem."

"Cal," Mike protested, "I-I can h-handle it."

"See," Mark backed the younger brother up, "he can handle it." With the kryptonian clone's head turned, Mike gave a small wink, and Calvin's eyes grew wide. Mark turned to his hostage, "Shall we go see your little hidey spot?" And with that, he leapt of the ground and flew off towards Queensland Park, the force of his acceleration shattering windows on his way out.

As they flew off, Calvin pulled out his cell phone and hit speed dial, putting the hands free set to his ear as he too took off, following lower.

"Holly, I need the rock back," he said as he took a round about towards New Troy.

"Hello to you to, Calvin," the Lantern's voice answered, "we're running some tests. Why do you need it?"

"Mike's trying to lead that guy from last night into a trap," Calvin informed her, "and I don't know what will happen when he has no way to fight this guy."

* * *

"It's-s in h-here," Mike said as he opened the door to his bed room. Mark followed and examined the bed room as Mike dug into the drawer. The blonde boy dug into the socks and underwear until he hit the bottom and realized it wasn't there. 

"Damn," he muttered under his breath as he stole a quick glance towards Mark, who was looking at several of the posters over his own bed. Mike needed to come up with small talk while he looked for the right type of Kryptonite. Luckily for him, Mark took that initiative upon himself.

"I'll die," he said solemnly.

"Wh-what?"

"You wanted to know why I wanted the Kryptonite," the black haired teen, "I will die with out it. And not like some ten year old girl will die without the coolest top. Literally die."

"So wh-why attack-ack us?"

"Me walking up to Lana Lang and asking for the stuff in front of you guys? Even I wouldn't believe that."

"And l-last n-night?" Mike brought up, as he changed his game plan and began to look for the real kryptonite, "You w-were g-going to let th-those people d-die."

"An eye for an eye…"

"…and the whole world goes blind!" Mike interrupted as he handed the box to his captor, "here are your glasses."

Mark stared at the kid, and grabbed the box. "It's not that simple," he coldly stated, "Is that guy in the Superman get up your brother?"

"Yeah," Mike answered as the guest looked down at the picture on the desk.

"He's not really… He's human right?"

"Why?"

"He's pretending to be something he's not," Mark explained as he opened the box and let the warm green light flood his systems, "not that that isn't okay, its his choice. I never had that choice. I've had to show my strength, my speed, my endurance to anyone who asked. My life is one big test. If I'm strong, I pass. I failed because of the sins of my fathers or, um, brothers, something I have no control over. The problem with turning the other cheek is that you tend to get slapped again."

Mike remained speechless as the boy walked towards the door.

"Tell your brother to leave me alone," Mark finished, "I don't want to be a hero or a villain. I made my choice." And then he sped off and out of sight.

When Mike was certain he was gone, he picked up the phone and hit speed dial. "Cal," He said, "I'm fine. He's gone."

* * *

Calvin got home later that night. He had been flying around town trying to clear his head about the whole matter. By the time he finished, redressed, and returned home, it was already night fall. He walked into the house to see Mike and Susan eating dinner.

" Cal, sweety," his mother softly spoke, "is something wrong?" 

"Huh," Calvin said stupidly, "Oh, no, not at all. Nothing's wrong. I just needed some air."

"Bad day?" Susan asked.

"No, I was, just, yes," He stammered, "I don't know."

"Is it about Superman, or Dad?"

"I don't know," Calvin replied, not aware that he had sat down and begun to eat, "Life I guess. You know. We have it bad. We have it bad, and there are still people who have it worse then us. Who need to fight for their lives day to day, and I… I'm just really confused. And I have homework."

He excused himself from the table and went upstairs to his room. Of course, he had no plans to do his homework, but just needed an escape from thinking about many topics. Calvin sat on his bed and leaned back. As he did, a crunching sounded from under his head. He got up and looked down on the pillow to see the note addressed to Calvin. He unfolded it and looked at the message:

_Dear Calvin, _

_ You did a great job today. And you have been doing a great job. You have always exemplified the virtues of Superman, and for that, I am very proud. When I gave you your suit, I told you that you were a symbol of hope. But it isn't what you appear as, but what you do that defines your work. As long as your intentions are noble, there is no need for you to fear Superman. _

_"S" _

Calvin looked around, but just as before, the writer of the note had disappeared completely, but it seemed to much of a coincidence for it to appear after what had transpired.

* * *

"So, our friend in blue and red found another cloning project?" Luthor asked, looking across the way as a silver creature changed shapes into his familiar form. 

"I saw it with my own too eyes," the Calvin Brainiac answered, "they fought a few times."

"And do you have any idea where this second Superman is?" Lex asked, thrusting a device that looked like a switch blade towards the machine.

"Gone. They have no idea where he went to." Brainiac replied.

"Then there is a problem with our plan," Lex said, "there is a good chance our missing Super clone is experiencing the original in a fashion not unlike your little observations."

"What do you think we should do?"

"Find him," Lex said, opening the blade, revealing it to be, not metal, but a green crystal, "find him and make sure he lives up to his 'father's' ultimate destiny."

* * *

_L dp dq dvnhu ri txhvwlrqv. Brxu iluvw: zkr zrxog jdlq iurp brxu gdg'v devhqvh? D frpsdqb lq klv ilhog? Zkdw grhv kh gr?_

"_**?"**_

_P.S. -5_

Mike looked at the cipher and back down to the message. He wrote down the last few letters and double checked the new message and turned to the computer screen. And then back down to the paper, and read the translation:

_I am an asker of questions. Your first: Who would gain from your dad's absence? A company in his field? What does he do?_

"_**?"**_

_P.S. -5_

He then opened up a window and began tapping out a message on the screen.

_He's a biochemist for LuthorCorp. I heard of a company earlier that was in the same field. Could they be after him for some reason? Like they want his research?_

As he was about to hit the send button, he looked down at the message and then added:

_Are you like the Question's Kid or something?_

And sent the message.

* * *

"So, for all your huff and puff," Linda teased, "Mike defeated the evil Kryptonian? With words!" 

Calvin had told Linda the series of events, and, in his form of framing, how Mike had let the bad guy get away from them.

"He wasn't evil," Calvin corrected, "just confused, which is why he needs help."

"But Mark doesn't want help," Linda argued, "he wants, and needs to figure this out on his own."

"He nearly killed two people," Calvin argued.

"Perspective," Linda retorted, "Legally, there is no way to put him in that place, because of the evidence being destroyed. And as a common citizen on the street, he could argue that he was not legally obligated to protect those people. In fact, he was listening to the instructions of the cops telling him to stay away."

"Why are you defending this guy?"

"Because he's defended himself all his life…"

* * *

"…_some one else needs to defend him once in a while."_

"You sure this is the right place, lady," the cabbie asked as he turned into the neighborhood, looking at the rundown buildings of Suicide Slums, "Kind of a bad part of town for someone like you to be in."

"I'll be fine, son," Lana said as the car pulled up to a boarded up row house, "I just need to give my friend something." She walked out of the car, handed the driver his fair and a tip, and turned towards the house, and knocked on some planks.

Up in the top floor of the old building, a black haired boy was fiddling with a green crystal, trying to make a shape from several shards he had broken off it when a knocking sounded from the ground floor. He looked out between the cracks of the broken window to see the old woman from the other day.

"Mark," She yelled, "I know you're up there. I brought you some food. It isn't much, but it will at least be a hot meal." She waited silently while Mark refused to answer. After a good couple of minutes, she put the Tupperware on the ground.

"I'll just leave it here in case," She informed, as she walked down the steps. Mark watched as she hobbled down the street to a better traveled road, when she suddenly stopped.

* * *

"He's kind of like Hamlet in a way," Linda continued as she mused out loud. 

"Like how?"

"Well, his father is telling him to be one person," She thought, "society is telling him to be another. Both are against who he really is, and now he's got to make a choice about that."

"So, a clone of an alien is like Shakespeare's most famous character," Calvin thought, "that's a new spin on it."

"To be or not to be?" Linda asked, "No word in that question is more then three letters, but the answer is very tough to come by."

"It's about suicide."

"You don't look deeper into things," Linda remarked, "It's about the nature of one's soul. What it is and should it be that. Mark asked himself: Is he going to be or not be?"

"And what answer do you think he took?"

"If you asked me…"

* * *

"…_I think he chose option C…"_

"Alright lady," a man said as Mark peeled away the musty paint and wooden walls to see that Lana was being comfronted by a man with a gun, "give me the purse and anything else you have of value."

"I don't have any money," Lana begged.

"Too bad," the man said, as Mark watch his finger begin to squeeze the trigger.

**BANG! **In the blink of an eye, a fist struck out in between the woman and the weapon. It opened to reveal a bullet in hand, with gunpowder residue surrounding the cone. Both the robber and Lana looked up to see a black haired boy attached to the hand. Mark dropped the bullet and grabbed the gun. In the same motion, he pushed the mugger, sending the man flying into a pile of garbage bags some ten feet away.

As the man looked up, the rescuer crushed the barrel of the weapon, breaking it into two pieces, and tossed it aside.

"Leave!" The boy ordered, his eyes glowing bright blue. The mugger didn't need to be told twice, and got to his feet and ran down the street. When he was out of sight, Mark looked at the old woman, who hobbled over and wrapped her arms around him.

"Thank you," He quietly said.

"…_All of the Above."_


	9. The American Way

**Journal of a Superman**

By S.P. Bley

The American Way

The security officer stood still by the embassy gates. Behind him, was the closest thing to friendly soil for miles. In front of him, was hostile terrain, permeated by terrorists and dogged members of warring fractions with in the country. This was Kasnia. A nation rifled with civil war for much of it's history, it was a land for the faint of heart.

"Hey, Captain," one of the other guards yelled, coming up to the man, "we have a van on the east side that…"

"I'm on it," the man said, walking around the concrete walls and spying a white van that had been stopped by several other guards. The senor officer approached, and looked into the window to see two Kasnian men.

"(State your business,)" he ordered in Kasnian, showing the men they had a common bond and didn't need to fear him.

"(We're hear from the monarchy,)" the driver stated.

"He says that the monarchy sent him," the captain spoke to his men, "can we get a confirmation on that."

"We did," a young red head informed, "he told us in English. We don't have any calls from the palace or any orders from the ambassador."

"Right," the captain noted, "(The king didn't tell us you were coming. Are you sure you're supposed to be here?)"

"(We weren't sent by the king,)" the passenger answered.

"(Out of the car,)" the officer ordered, drawling his weapon. The others followed suit, training their sights on the men, "(This will be your only warning, we will sho...)"

The captain didn't have time to finish as the van was engulfed in a fire ball. It quickly spread out as the world went black for the guards.

* * *

"Kasnian Prince Andre will be landing at Metropolis International Airport tomorrow," the TV announcer, "amid controversy over the recent attack of the United States Embassy in Kasnia, which claimed 12 lives and injured 90 more. Among his agenda are peace discussions and sight seeing."

"So," Susan said, putting a plate of pancakes down on the table, "you are going to come with me to this thing?"

"Mom, the guy is just de-planing," Mike observed, "I swear, if there was a big enough reason for it, they'd have a party for breathing."

"It's Mr. Luthor's party," the mother informed her two boys, "If you're dad was… well he would go and support his boss."

"Like that guy would care," Calvin noted.

"Excuse me," Susan yelled, "he's being very generous. We couldn't manage if we didn't have your father's paycheck."

A silence fell on the room as the boys looked at their meal. Susan looked at both of the boys, and took a bite of her own meal, "So glad you kids decided to come with me, it means a lot," She said, as if they agreed to do it in the pause of dialog, "Be ready by five." She ordered, picking up her finished plate and walking it to the kitchen. When she finished washing it, she walked back up stairs, at which point the boys put down their forks.

"Eating tainted food," Calvin remarks, "she is really good at guilting us."

"It's a new all time low," Mike added, "so are we allowed to bring friends?"

"You know how much mom had to RSVP for this?" Calvin asked, "She didn't. Luthor's personal secretary called us up and said we were going to be his personal guests."

"So we're his charity case of the year?"

"Yeah."

* * *

G yk lmr Rfc Oscqrgml, hsqr y dyl. Bm wms ilmu ufyr cvyarjw fgu pcqcypaf bcrygjcd? Mp ufyr amnylw umsjb zc gltmjtcb? Rfcpc gq lm qsaf rfgle yq y qrsngb ylqucp. Hsqr y qrsngb oscqrgml. Rfc ylqucp fcjnq sq dgespc msr ufyr gq Rfc qkypr oscqrgml.

"**?"**

P.S. 8

Mike sat at his computer starring at the coded message. He tapped his fingers on the keyboard as his gaze shifted down to the paper he had used to decode the message. It didn't make sense. His coded message was garbled still, and there was no way he could figure it out. He subtracted five letters from the original alphabet, but the new substitute was not making any sense. He minimized the window as the rest of the class began to file in for lab.

"What's that?" a dark skin boy with light brown hair asked, as he sat down beside Mike. He was pointing at Mike's failed cipher, and thankfully not the computer. Despite her pleas, he didn't reveal the contents of the first message to Kayla. Who would believe he was receiving coded e-mail from the question?

"Cipher," He said, "doesn't work."

"You mean you like a code?" The boy asked, "So you're a coder?"

"A what?"

"Person who writes his or her e-mails in ciphers because they believe the government is spying on them," He explained.

"Yeah," Mike said, following his cue, "just never heard of it."

"So what do you know that the government is after?" The kid asked.

"I'm personal friends with Superman," Mike declared. His face was serious for a few minutes until the other kid cracked a smile and laughed. Mike broke down as well, mostly because his joke worked so well. Other people pulled it off, why couldn't he?

"That was good," the boy said between gasps for air, "I'm Connor. Connor Irons. I'm new."

"Mike Lark," Mike said, extending his hand to shake, "so where are you from?"

"D.C.," the boy said, "Dad moved back to help the family business."

"Which is?"

"Don't know," Connor said, "government contracts and really top secrete stuff. He could tell me, but he would need to kill me."

"So, are you a coder?" Mike said, holding up the sheet of paper, trying to get the conversation back on track.

"No, I'm a kid," he said, "what do I have to hide? I know my far share of geeks though, I might be able to help. What's wrong?"

"I got the code, and the coded message, but they don't work."

"Then you don't have the code," Connor informed, "either you did something wrong, or your buddy thinks your friend Superman might be interested. What are you talking about anyway?"

"Stuff," Mike answered, "like aliens and junk."

"If you want more then aliens and Junk," Connor smiled, "you should hear some of the things my Grandpa John claims to have done."

* * *

"Come on, Cal," Cree said during the lunch break, smiling across the table as she pushed her hair out of her eyes, "how many times do you get to see the next in line for an entire country?"

"Isn't Bill a prince of something?" Calvin jokingly asked, "or is his last name just Prince? I told you I'd get the guy's John Hancock tonight. Why do you want to ditch school to see some guy walk off the plane?"

"Why worry about his John Hancock when I can try to get his real…"

"…Okay," Linda spoke up, "You are officially out of your mind. The guys already got a fiancé. You're suggesting creating a domestic affair."

"Wouldn't it be an international incident?" Calvin noted, catching the pun.

"So are we going?"

"No, we have English," he answered, "we can't hop across Metropolis to see someone who just hopped across the pond."

"We are just going over the Hamlet test," Linda noted, "maybe we can duck out."

"Calvin, If I was you and you were me, what would you want me to do?"

"Cut back on your pronouns," Calvin suggested, "I hate to say this, but the choice to stay is a to be or not to be. And I'm going to be."

* * *

"I can't believe you talked me into 'not to be'," Calvin yelled over the din of the crowd on the tarmac as the ground crew rolled up the stairs.

"Come on, you didn't want me to do anything to bad, right," Cree replied, yelling over several other people cheering as one of the men walked towards the door to open it.

"Besides," Linda interjected, "we need someone to hold the sign up while we look good." She tapped the orange paper poster lightly and smiled, "thank-you!"

"You two have boyfriends," Calvin roared, "one of whom is right behind you!"

"Here he comes," Cree noticed, "look someone's coming out of the plane…"

As the roar of the crowd swelled, Calvin's sensitive ears focused on an unusual sound. A distinct clicking of metal. He turned his head towards the source, and zoomed in on a man raising his arm above the crowd level as he pushed two girls out of the way.

"Hey," she screamed, then almost changing from anger to fear, yelled "Oh my God!" It was plane to Calvin what was in the mans hand: a distinctive fire arm.

The boy quickly dropped to the floor, and pulled off his shirt, revealing the 'S' emblem. As he rushed, crouched down at breakneck speeds, he unbuckled his jeans and rocketed through the crowd, which was now sidestepping away from the man. As his finger squeezed around the trigger, Calvin came in at from the side, and grabbed the weapon, and ripped the barrel off the handle. He tightened his grip, until the device couldn't handle the strain and blew up, the force contained in his fist.

"Alright," Superman said, reaching for the guy's shirt as the secrete service rushed a boy with long blonde hair out down the sealed off portion of the walkway, "time to go to…" The man's reaction was faster the Calvin had anticipated, and he found the man had a firm grip on his own arm. As he tried to free himself from the mans grip, he pulled his arm back, moving Superman with him, and giving Calvin his first thought that the man wasn't the normal everyday assasign.

The guy tossed the hero forward, as he turned on his heels and ran back into the crowd. Calvin crashed through a banister and skidded to a stop near the plane, unearthing portions of the pavement as he slowed. Superman quickly got up and took off over the crowds, looking for the man. After making two loops, with his vision, he couldn't see any sign of the man.

* * *

"I don't see Calvin anywhere," Cree said, as she looked at the people from the crowd who were waiting to go through the interrogation booths. Several were taking their time, but many were getting in and out quickly. But true to her statements, Calvin was no where to be seen.

"I'm sure he's around," Linda suggested, craning her neck as she feigned looking for the brown haired boy's location, "but I think it's safe to say that if any parents get any calls, we don't mention going together."

"Yeah," Cree agreed. After a few minutes of silence, she looked towards Linda, "are you and he. Have you ever been more then…"

"Huh?" Linda mumbled, "I mean no! No, Calvin's a nice guy, but not my type."

"What is your type then?"

"For now, something closer to his brother," Linda stated.

"Well damn."

"We're one big happy family," She joked, "you two seem to be hitting it…"

"We aren't."

"Do you mind if I ask why?"

"It's like right now," Cree motioned to the tents, "never there when he says he will. Always running out at the drop of a hat. And when we do get together, he always seems to have his head in the clouds."

"Trust me, that," Linda chuckled, "that is one way of putting it." As she spoke, her cellphone went off. She looked at the caller ID: "S". She looked back at the other girl and smiled, "Sorry, It's my bro."

"Sure," Cree replied.

"Hey Derek," Linda yelled into the phone, "What's up?"

"Lin," Calvin's voice replied, "I've been searching. No sign of the dude. Are you covering?"

"Mom never knew," Linda answered in their own special code, "how's the GF?"

"I haven't told Mom I'm running late," he responded, "She's going to go '09 on me."

"Aw, I liked her," Linda sweetly said, "do you want to talk about it later?"

"I need to get to home so I can go look like an evil CEOs charity case, of course I'd love to talk about it later!"

"Later's good, I'm here with Calvin's girlfriend," She replied, "we're waiting for him to get out of interrogation."

"Can I call back in a few and we not pretend?"

"Okay, Derek, I love you too," She finished before adding, "there are always more fish in the sea."

"That's cold," Calvin observed, as he ended the connection.

* * *

"Really, Calvin, you knew this was important!" His mother shrieked as they piled into the car a full fifteen minutes after the time they were supposed to leave. "If you make us look bad in front of the President…"

"Mom, two hours after Lex introduces us, he'll be talking business with that Prince Andre," Calvin retorted, "and we'll be told by some one who has never met us of how sorry they feel for us."

"Calvin, a recommendation from one of these sets you for life," Susan informed.

"Don't worry; it will be like I'm not me."

"Between the booze and the politics, its unlikely any one there will be themselves," Mike muttered under his breath, forcing his older brother to snicker slightly.

The car drove through maddening amounts of traffic until they came to the twin towers of the LuthorCorp offices. It wasn't the sight of the party, rather, where they were going to meet Lex so that they could all go to the party. The Limo drove, once again, through sickening traffic, made more so because the bald man insisted on teaching the brothers how to behave in a political environment such as this, and then how he didn't think it was wise to bring the children.

The car pulled out of the tunnels and drove down the darkening streets to a very large home on St. Martin's Island. It was much larger then Lana's place, which they passed almost twenty minutes previously. It was almost like a mix of ancient Roman and Modern, with people milling around on the front steps with cameras trained on the many different people who were exiting various cars.

When it came there turn, the four of them exited the limo and walked down a red carpet amid flashing of bulbs and lights. Calvin had to admit that if it was the old Superman, he would have been on the other side taking notes. He adjusted his own glasses as he walked up the stairs into a large foyer with a large crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling over several guests who were talking outside the main party room.

"Susan," A woman's voice called out, "Susan how have you been!"

"Oh my God, Emily," Susan replied, "You look great. Are the kids here?"

"Well, you know Morris. 'Miserable little animals will cost me an election one day.'" She said, imitating the distinctive voice of Morris Carter, the present Mayor of Metropolis. Calvin had to believe there was some truth to the statement. "But it's good that you could bring your crew. How did you get…"

"Lex invited us," Susan dignitly informed her friend.

"Oh," Emily replied.

"Hey," the real speaker of the distinctive voice bellowed, "hey it's my DA. Susan, how are you doing?"

"Very well," She informed the man.

"You look well," Morris observed, "I am really sorry for your…"

"Morris do me a favor," Susan pleaded in a low, "I'm here as a guest of Luthor's. I'll be hearing that plenty from people who don't know me. I don't want yours to sound like all the other fake ones."

"Sure thing," he said, "I need to go speak with some important people inside the main hall, so we'll be going."

"I'm sure I'll see you around," Susan reminded.

"If you need anything, Sue…"

"I'll ask, I know." She smiled. Morris and Emily walked off as the mother turned to her boys. She opened the purse, and rummaged for something, "That kids, is how you hate people in politics."

"What are you looking for, Mom?" Mike asked. She pulled her fist out and closed the bag. She made an underhanded toss to Calvin, who caught the item, which made a small, metal clink.

"You're driving home tonight," She calmly stated, "I know I'll take up the first person to offer me a drink."

* * *

"So how does someone get a gun past security?" Mike asked. The boys had taken to a corner of the party and were relatively alone from the rest of the people who were milling around. There topic was, of course, the subject on everyone else's mind: Who was the gun-man at the airport?

"Beats me," Calvin remarked, "inside job, or something like that. He got away quickly too, like there was a place he was supposed to be after the attempt."

"Like a trap door or something?"

"Could be. I don't know, he just seemed like he knew what he was doing a lot more then I did."

"And let's not for get that he wiped the floor with you," Mike reminded, "I really want that video."

"Yeah, if he could do that, why shoot?"

"So, where is this guy we're supposed to be honoring?"

Calvin turned his head around the room, his eyes looking through around people until they came to rest on another blonde boy, talking with Lex Luthor and a politician that he recognized from the television. "Over, there," Calvin noted, "talking to the king of…"

"Mr. Lark?" a man asked, walking through the crowd. He had silver hair and a very distinctive pair of glasses that looked almost like green work glasses, "Agent David Bennett, NSA. I would like a word with you."

"Which one, sir?" Mike asked, smiling somewhat, "Two brothers and a father. You need to be a bit more specific."

"Which ever one seizes up faster then a cheap engine when around green rocks," Bennett informed, "I'm interested in speaking to that one. Alone."

Calvin got up and looked to his brother and got up. The man escorted the boy to the balcony of outside the main party room, grabbing a glass of Champaign on the way out. He did not talk until they were out on the deck alone. "Mr. Lark, I want to thank you for what you've done," the man said, "you know the first Superman stood for the same thing that my department stands for: Truth, Justice, and The American Way."

"I'm not related to the first one," Calvin noted, "I'm just doing my part. Honoring a memory and…"

"I read you're file," Bennett coldly stated, "I know what you stand for."

"Agent Ryder told me my file was closed."

"Agent Ryder left last Tuesday," Bennett informed, clearly trying to change the subject. "Anyway, Superman stood for a lot of things my department does. We don't like to see Americans die. I really appreciate your help with that…"

* * *

Mike reclined slightly in his chair, fiddling some kind of entrée that he had taken from a good looking waitress. He looked over to where the man was talking to Calvin, and then over to the various people in the party. The doors opened for a late arrival, who looked very stoic. Mike thought he recognized the man from this distance. The man just stood and surveyed the room for a little bit.

After he looked over the party goers, the man walked entirely across the room towards the bathroom, by the young boys table. He smiled at the kid and walked in.

"Who do you suppose that is?" Emily asked at the far end of the room, both her and Susan wondering about the mysterious man who had arrived so late.

"He isn't from the city, I would probably recognize him."

"Me too."

* * *

"…So I want you to know that the remarks one of our field agents made will be stricken ASAP." Bennett finished telling the boy.

"What remarks?" Calvin asked, not sure what the NSA man was talking about.

"One of agents deemed you a possible risk to National Security after you interfered with one of his assignments," the man informed, "It was a complete misunderstanding, so as soon as I can, I'll remove your threat status."

"Misunderstanding how?"

"The incident earlier today at the airport," Bennett explained, "you were doing you're part, and it got in the way of a few agents."

"I was saving a foreign diplomat's life," Calvin retorted, "how was I interfering. You just said, we were on the same side."

"We want you to stay out of it. Until we get this guy," Bennett noted, "We don't want starting something that could escalate into an international incident."

* * *

"Susan, I see that you've met the mayor's wife," Lex said as he approached the two women.

"Oh, we've met before," Emily smiled, "Sue and I were roommates back at Met U."

"Is that so?"

"Hey Lex," Susan interrupted, "We have a little argument that needs to be settled. Who is that man that just came in? Emily and I are having a little debate on who he's with, since he's all alone."

"What man?"

"The guy who just walked in. Five minutes ago. He went to the bathroom, and hasn't come out."

Lex took out his cell phone and hit a speed dial. He waited for a few minutes until he got an answer.

"I've got a mouse infestation down stairs," he stated quickly, and then hung up and began to turn away.

"Lex," Emily said, "Who was it?"

"Taking into consideration that all the guests have been present for a full half hour, I don't know," Lex said as he walked towards the bathroom, "but I will find out." Michael looked up as the bald man approached. Feet from the door, the man walked out, clutching a gun in his hand.

* * *

"How could I cause an international incident if I was saving someone's life," Calvin asked.

"Trust me on this," David answered, "it would be very bad if you were involved."

"Bad how?"

"I'm not at liberty to say," Bennett declared, "Calvin, will you please promise you won't get involved in these situations? Legally, you are a minor, and I must direct you not to take…"

**CRASH! **Calvin lept to his feet as his eyes switching to an infrared spectrum and looked into the room. He saw a very warm body hit the limp on the floor as a cold body held its right arm out, as if ready to fire a gun into the crowd.

"Excuse me," Calvin said as he began to pull off his tux.

"Do you understand what I asked you to do?"

"You're asking me if I understand that an agent of my country asked me to stand down while innocent lives are in danger?" Calvin asked, pulling off the final piece, "Yeah, I do. But that isn't the same as complying."

"You are not getting involved in this," Ryder yelled.

"I'd like to see you stop me," Calvin told him in his Superman voice. He quickly turned and rushed into the room as the weapon discharge a bright light of plasma. In almost an instant, the boy raced into the projectile's trajectory, stopping the luminous blast with his bare hand. The assassin fired several more shots at the obstruction to his target. Superman stopped each blast, approaching the man, with every stopped shot. He finally got close enough and reached for the weapon, ripping it apart.

Needless to say, the assassin was not pleased. He grabbed the hero and through him across the room. He then ran towards the boy, landing a hard kick to Calvin's side upon arriving. The brown haired boy landed again, and was almost instantly picked up by the man, and tossed through the wall.

The man turned to the room and ran for the prince. Calvin looked through the whole he had made as his eyes were illuminated by bright red light. Twin heat beams erupted form his gaze, and collided with the man. Much as the night proved already, this guy shrugged off the attack and continued for his target. With his eyes still focused on the man, he rushed in between the dignitary and continued firing. Both the superhero and the prince backed away as the assassin continued to shrug off the heat blast, silently approaching the two boys until it grabbed Superman's face, silencing the beams, and slammed him into the polished wood floor with a sickening crack.

The man stepped over the blue and red clad hero and continued for the prince. As his hands reached out, his body fought against a force containing him to his spot. The man turned his head and looked to see the child that was interrupting him pulling his leg back. Before the assassin could do anything, he was tossed across the room through another wall. Calvin looked into the crack, and saw something horrifying

"He is flying," Andre screamed behind the hero, "He is fly…" Before he could begin to panic, He was picked up by Superman, who proceeded to rocket out of the window and into the night air, followed shortly by the man, who had acquired another weapon and was proceeding to fire it at the two boys.

Calvin proceeded to weave between the plasma discharges, trying to cut location down to a minimum.

"So, are you with ze zecret zervice?" The Kasian prince asked as a bolt lanced across his protector's back.

"No," Calvin admitted.

"Then you are breaking ze law," He advised, "I am not zupposed to leave my…"

"Look," Calvin interrupted in his Superman voice, "I'm one of the strongest heroes in the world. I'm barely doing a good job at keeping you alive."

"Just for ze record," Andre hollard, "what is your idea of a 'good job'?"

"You're still breathing," Superman replied, as they flew towards a bridge to New Troy, "Do you get airsick?"

"Yez, I'm very…"

"Good," Calvin interrupted, quickly diving towards the bay as the dignitary screamed. He leveled off only feet from the water and looked back at the assassin, who was following a much slower maneuver. Superman began to swerve to avoid shots until he passed under the first bridge, at which point, he made a rapid change in direction and proceeded to fly straight up. He crested over the tower of the suspension bridge and did a quick barrel roll, diving until he was above only inches above several cars, weaving out of the way as trucks and shots dictated. As the bridge ended, he curved for the decent to the underside of New Troy, hoping his opponent wasn't as quick as the last light from the buildings faded to an illuminated street underground.

"Vhat are you doing?" Andre yelled as Calvin rounded a corner at a sharp angle. The hero looked back to see the man still following, although he was taking wider turns.

"He's loosing control on his turns," Superman explained as he made a split decision, maneuvering very close to a large truck and flying down the stretch of tunnel. As the truck rounded the corner, the pursuer overshot his turn, coming out closer to the opposite side of the street below Calvin and Andre. He pulled out his weapon as Calvin took another left twist, causing a large explosion to erupt in the wall that was in front of them seconds before. The man nearly struck the wall as he tried to turn and fire another shot. This one struck a tanker truck, which erupted into a giant fireball in front of the fleeing.

With a deep breath, a blast of cold air erupted from Calvin's lips, suppressing the flames in a cloud of steam that blew out of the way as he quickly flew through it and rapidly turning right. As the man blasted through the mist, he made a grave calculation and smacked himself into the wall of the tunnel. Superman and Andre looked back to see the assassin push a large chunk of debris out of the crater and look towards them. As he took off, Calvin rounded another corner and quickly flew down yet another before the man had any idea which way they went.

"Is he gone?" Andre asked as Calvin looked back with his x-ray vision and saw the man taking off. More importantly, he saw that it wasn't a man, but a machine of some sort.

"Yeah, he's leaving," Superman said as he approached an exit and turned around for the expensive hotel Andre was staying at.

"Vhat a rush," Andre said, the color slowly returning to his pale cheeks, "Vhen ve land, can I get you're autograph?"

"I was going to ask the same thing," Calvin replied as he approached the tower.

* * *

"Sir," one of the secret service members called out to Agent Bennett, "our men lost sight of Superman and Andre."

"Okay, call them back and get ready to do a city wide search," David ordered as he stepped out from under the police tap, "don't talk to anyone in the media until I see them both."

"Sir," Susan yelled, waving her arms to get the agents attention, "have you seen my son?"

"Kid with brown hair," Mike added, "you were talking with him before the attack."

"I'm sure he's in this mess looking for you," David said, the three unaware that something flew overhead, "Everyone is out of the house, we searched it thoroughly."

"Agent Bennett," another man came running up, "Andre just arrived at his hotel."

"Thank-you, West" Bennett yelled, "Tell Kyleson I want the prince on lock down. No one gets in and no one gets out. Load Kryptonite bullets if it means deterring someone."

"Mom," Calvin yelled, tux back on and looking just as nice as anyone else in the crowd, "I've been looking for you guys. Are we leaving soon?"

"Luthor's got some business with the feds," Mike replied, distracting their mother from the glare that David was now giving the boy, "but his secretary assistant person will be taking us back if the feds are through with you." They all looked at Bennett, whose cold face was replaced with one of indifference.

"Did you see anything out of the ordinary, son?" Bennett asked.

"I was with you when it happened," Calvin reminded, "we were talking about the investigation from the first one, so I was effectively distracted from the whole thing, remember?" Bennett looked very angry at this reminder.

"Yeah," the NSA agent replied, "you and your family can go Ms. Lark. If there's something that comes up, I'll let you know."

* * *

"So, he isn't real?" Linda asked.

"I believe the man said he is a robot," Mike joked, "that's plenty real."

"Okay, he isn't human," Linda corrected.

"No," Calvin answered, concentrating on thinking about the situation, "It was a completely different guy, but I bet the man at the airport would have been if I x-rayed him."

"Well how does that get past security?" Linda wondered, "The guns alone would have set something off."

"That's what I thought," Calvin replied, "but what I'm more interested in is whose controlling it."

"Sorry?" Mike said, looking somewhat confused.

"Ever hear of robots that can think for themselves?" Calvin asked, "Cause I haven't."

"Cyborgs?" Linda suggested.

"Or that Zeta thingy that people claim the government is hiding," Mike reminded.

"You guys talking about the IU Zeta Projects?" another voice asked, as Linda and Calvin turned there heads to see a dark skinned boy with short, curly brown hair, "Do you mind if I sit with you Mike?"

"Go ahead Connor," Mike asked, "Is that what they called those things? IU Zetas? The ones that had the holograms and killed people?"

"Until the one got away and effectively turned public opinion against them," Connor asked, "Yeah. Those are the ones."

"Why would the government do that?" Linda asked.

"Simple," Connor noted, "give them a target to kill. They kill it, get put on trial, and are executed. The "body" is buried, and the government gets another solider to deploy. Eliminates a deadly target AND no man power put on the line."

"But the government discontinued the Zeta project after the exposure incidents," Mike added, "so Calvin, if you think Superman fought one of those last night, they haven't been in use since the late 50s."

"Why would they retire the SR-71?" Connor asked.

"The what?" Mike replied.

"One of the fastest planes in the history of the world," Linda answered, "was able to make a transcontinental flight in less than two hours."

"Cause in 2070, we have planes that can do it in less then an hour and a half," Mike answered, "that's at least 10 years further advanced then that one."

"SR-71 was made in the 1970s," Linda noted, "it was retired in the 90s."

"Okay, I give," Mike admitted, "why did they do that?"

"Only one reason," Connor smiled, "we had something better. And I assume that classified planes today are almost better then the de-classified planes."

"Stories point?" Calvin asked.

"We have a better robot," Connor suggested, "Its referred to as the IU Omnicron online. Apperently, it is better at mimicking human emotions then the Zeta series and acts as a Super-killer. You know, it can handle people with powers."

"Explains why this guy could stand up to Superman," Linda mused.

"Why would we want to kill a guy entering peace talks?" Mike asked.

"Could be rogue agents with one of these," Calvin noted. Connor nodded.

"It's possible."

* * *

"Calvin," Cree yelled later in the day in front of a classroom, running up to the boy and giving him a hug, "I'm glad to see you."

"Me too," he said as he approached the girl, "I have something for you." He reached into his book bag and pulled out a small piece of paper and gave it to her. Cree took the item and unfolded it and looked at the writing scrawled on it:

_To Cree,_

_You have an amazing friend,_

_Prince Andre of Kasnia IX_

She looked from the message back to Calvin and then back down again.

"What's this?" Cree asked, holding up the message.

"An autograph from Andre," Calvin explained, "I thought you wanted it."

"How did you get it?"

"I walked up to the guy at the party and asked him for it," Calvin explained, as if it was obvious that anyone should know that.

"You told us you were asked to stay for further questioning," Cree accused, "because you were close to the shooter."

"I was," Calvin noted, "and I had to get home so I wouldn't be late to the party."

"If you were held, how'd you make before the second attack?" Cree questioned. Calvin tried to hid the answer but couldn't come up with any positive response. "Where were you Calvin?"

"I was in the questioning, then I went to the party and…"

"You got from the airport in Bakerline, to Queensland Park, which is on the other side of the city," Cree began listing off, "to New Troy and then St. Martin's Island? Calvin, is this even real?"

"The autograph is real," Calvin protested, "I got it at the party."

"Are you like, James Bond with a tux under your jeans?"

"No, we just got there quickly and…"

"Calvin, I want the truth," She stated, "were you at the party?"

"Do you want the truth as I'm going to tell it," Calvin asked, "or as you want to hear it?"

She glared coldly at him, crumpled the paper into her pocket, and stormed off. Calvin was certain that this was the beginning of bad things.

* * *

"So you think she's upset at you?" Linda asked as they walked into Calvin's house and up the stairs.

"Pretty much," Calvin noted, "I didn't think that she would put two and two together."

"Tough break," Linda noted as the bed room door opened to reveal Mike at the computer, "What are you looking at, kiddo?"

Mike jumped and hastily fidgeted with the mouse as the other two approached, "Found something Cal might like," He said as he showed them a picture of two ring like devices.

"ISO Diagravitational Rings," Linda read, "my cousin has a pair of those. Helps with AIDS."

"I think I met a girl with a set," Calvin mentioned as he read about their use to block all matter, making a bubble for people with compromised immune systems, "why are we looking at this?"

"Because of this," Mike explained, scrolling down to a segment that read "Military Applications". "In 2054, one of the designers was able to boost the power, proving it as an effective offensive and defensive weapon. However, he was stopped by Batman, and the company, Wayne Corp, refused to mass produce the juiced up version."

"So what?"

"The problem in the system was sound," Mike continued, "Audio weapons have been common, so the design flaws that amplify sound would prove more fatal. But for a robot that could handle an increased sound was equipped, then it could repel any matter. Even Super-matter." Mike looked towards the brown haired boy at the final sentence.

"Meaning that if Calvin takes him at super-sonic speeds…"

"I could cause damage to the unit," Calvin finished.

"But the government involvement," Linda asked, "what about…"

"They don't matter," Calvin concluded as he took off his glasses and revealed the S shield and ran out of the room.

"So," Linda began as soon as the older brother was gone, "where you looking at porn when we came in?"

"No," Mike defensivly retorted.

"Then what were you looking at?"

"Promise you won't laugh?"

"Sure," Linda answered as Mike opened up the window he was looking at. A field of garbled letters lay in the message, followed by a bolded question mark.

"I think its from some one related to that Question guy," Mike explained, "its coded, but I think I did something wrong."

"Why have you been talking to this guy?" Linda asked.

"He's been helping to figure out where Dad is."

"Sure?"

"Why else would he contact me?"

"Who knows," Linda speculated, "but if the cops haven't found your dad, what's someone who spends most of his time e-mailing you gonna do?"

* * *

Calvin maneuvered through the sky and into the steel canyon of New Troy. Below him, people pointed up as the boy shot across down the streets. Taking a banking turn, Superman flew in the direction of the 5 star hotel he had previously visited the night before, slowing as he approached. He leveled off and touched down on the balcony of the penthouse suit. Before he could even announce his presence, the door slid open.

"Freeze, Superman," Bennett ordered, brandishing a gun towards the kid, "I told you to stay out of this."

"Where is Andre, Bennett?" Calvin demanded.

"That is none of your concern," The NSA agent informed.

"Considering he's got a robot that can look like anyone after him for the kill," Calvin retorted, "I'd say he'd welcome my help."

"If you don't leave," Bennett coldly announced, "I will shoot."

"Do you know how many bullets and lasers I've watched bounce off me? What good is that?"

"I'm packing Kryptonite ammo," David declared, "So I want you to fly off right now, and I won't have to prove how good of a marksman I am."

"Bennett, I'm trying to stop some group with a killer robot from killing a dignitary," Superman informed, "and you're holding a gun to me? Whose side are you really on?"

"America's side," Bennett quickly answered, "Protecting Truth, Justice, and the American Way. That's what you and I do. So let me do my part alone." At these words, something sparked in Calvin's mind. NSA made the original Zetas. To make the messiest of murders look like innocently random.

"You're not stopping the robot, are you?" Calvin asked. In a split second, the gun went off as a crude crystal like bullet emerged from the barrel, breaking as it left the weapon. Calvin moved quickly out of the trajectory and raced towards the Bennett, grabbing the gun and crushing it. Bennett's eyes widened as Calvin looked up. "Faster than a speeding bullet, remember?"

Superman's hand grabbed the Agent's shirt, lifted him off the ground, and tossed him through the glass window and into the penthouse. "I don't like being shot at, Bennett…"

"He funded the embassy explosion. He gave restitution money to the families of the bombers. He…"

"Where is he?" Calvin roared, his eyes glowing read with anger.

"Leaving for a peace talk. He's probably outside right…" **BAM! **David stopped as the boy turned towards the window. A loud shriek from the crowd echoed as Calvin rushed out and looked down, spying the body of a dead boy with blonde hair sprawled out on the ground as several Secret Service members pushed into the crowd. A quick x-ray of the crowd wasn't need as he watched the man run away, pushing people out of his way as he rushed down the streets.

In a blur of red and blue, Calvin flew off the balcony and down towards the machine, grabbing it and lifting it off the ground as the officers stopped and watched the two fly away. As Calvin broke threw a cloud bank, the robot began to struggle, tossing a fist towards the boys face. Calvin only glared as he began to pick up speed.

The first sonic boom came with quickly, causing Superman to lose his grip as the invisible shield rippled slightly. He continued to fly along with the robot, which was now pulling out a gun and discharging it directly into the boy's face. As the second boom came, louder than the first, Calvin returned fire with a blast of heat vision. The twin red beams bounced off the deforming shield as the boy picked up speed.

As the third boom came, the shield deformed enough that the heat vision broke through and seared apart the weapon. The machine finally dropped its holographic covering, revealing it's true self. It was shaped like a human's musculature, sliver in color with a few hints of open wire. Calvin noticed a belt like device around the androids waist. He recognized it on the girl in the hospital. The device was so close and so far away at the same time. Another sonic boom echoed as Superman dodged blows, from Omnicron's attempts to free himself. The few that landed did manage to hurt the hero as he continued to pick up speed.

With a deafening fifth sonic boom, the shield greatly deformed as electricity began to arc across the belt. Superman picked up speed as another boom echoed. The machine's shield fell completely, and the assassin fell towards earth. Calvin doubled around and shot towards it to capture the device. He grabbed the thing by the skeletal legs and arms and began pulling it apart. The metal strained and groaned as it ripped apart like aluminum foil. With a resound crack, the torso separated from the pelvis as cut wires sparked against the metal. The red eyes died as Calvin contemplated what he would do next. Dropping the remains in front of Bennett would not be a good idea, but odds were that Bennett already knew what he had done. There was only one other thing Calvin could think of doing.

* * *

The teen of tomorrow landed on the balcony of a large stone fortress in Eastern Europe. As he walked down the halls, he drew attention from several different people, all of whom spoke amongst themselves in a foreign language as the boy looked around.

One of the members walked up to him and shouted something in a dialect Calvin was unfamiliar with. He looked at the man and glared.

"I want to speak with the person in charge," Calvin ordered. The men and women looked around as he turned to another, "Does anyone here speak English?"

"I do," an elderly voice spoke. Calvin turned to see the old man who had just entered the hall addressing him, "who are you and what do you want?"

"I'm Superman," Calvin pointed out the obvious, "And I want to speak to the king or queen or who ever is in charge about Prince Andre."

"You are speaking to him," the man replied. Calvin's eyes widened as he held up a metallic silver object that he had been holding: the detached head of the assassin robot, looking very inhuman.

"I tried to protect your son," Calvin began, "I tried to but the guys running this thing got to him first."

"My son?"

"Was shot leaving the hotel in Metropolis earlier," Calvin informed as the man's eyes grew wide with horror, "they used this robot to pose as a bystander as he left."

"Who did this?" the ruler asked.

"I don't know who made the call," Calvin confessed, "but the robot was made and operated by the US government. I don't know who knew what, but they believed that he was involved in the embassy attack."

"And they killed him for this?"

"I am sorry, sir."

"Did they send you to kill me?"

"No, sir, I am just as shocked about this as you are," Calvin admitted, "but I figured that you would want to know the truth. I don't kill. You can do whatever you want. Declare war or whatever. It's out of my hands. You'd be justified." He turned and walked towards the balcony, leaving the same way that he came in.

"I spent a life time trying to bring Kasnia back into a good light with the United States," the king spoke, stopping Calvin as he turned to listen, "I condoned the attacks, I tried to establish peace. And they go and kill my son. People have gone to war for less. It would be justifiable, but that doesn't mean it is right. What would that bring to my work? King Gregory, peace maker until war was justified. I wanted to make peace with the Americans, and now I am being test: How much do I want that peace?"

"He was your son," Calvin replied, "You're just going to stand there and take it?"

"What can I do?" Gregory asked, "If I go to war, I will be hopelessly out gunned. At the very least, I can come out as the bigger man. That's all I really can do, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry for your loss, sir," Calvin replied, wishing to end the conversation. He quickly sped out towards the balcony and rocketed into the night sky.

* * *

"…arriving only seconds late, Superman grabbed the assassin and flew him east…"

Mike flipped the news channel on his laptop to another channel, flashing from the a male reporter to a female reporter.

"…Sources inside the palice have told us that the Metropolis hero deposited the remains of some type of robot…"

Again he changed the channel, switching from one news source to the other, listening to what each of the organizations were saying about the incident down town.

"…Several competent members described the machine as being akin to the now defunct Zeta Projects. NSA has refused to comment on the issue at this hour…"

"…The state department issued a warning to all Americans travelling within Kasnian borders. Tonight we are coming to you from neighboring…"

"Looks like someone's in trouble," Linda said in a sing-song voice.

"What makes you say that?" Mike asked, turning around to see her staring out the window.

"The large flying car that just landed," She answered as Mike leapt out of his seat to confirm the statement. True enough, a large black flying car was parked in the middle of the street, "Who on your street owns a flyer?"

"Nobody…" Mike paused as the doors opened and a man with silver grey hair stepped out of the car. "It's that guy from the party."

"Who?" Linda asked as the door bell rang.

"David Bennett," Mike answered as the pair left the top floor to answer it, "he's the guy who was talking with Cal when the assassin struck last night."

"Yeah, he's in trouble," Linda noted as Mike opened the door.

"May I help you?" He asked the man in front of him.

"Where is Calvin?"

"Out, why?"

"You know damn well why," Bennett declared.

"Why?" A voice asked from behind the grey haired man. The assembled group turned to see a brown haired boy with thick framed glasses, "What did I do? You're the ones who killed Andre."

"Don't try and pin blame on me, you started an international incident!"

"The incident started when you decided to kill someone."

"He was funding the people who bombed our embassy," Bennett yelled, "no more prince, no more funding."

"Do you have proof?"

"I'd better," David retorted, "your little stunt just cost your country years of intelligence gathering efforts used to keep us safe."

"Safe, by causing a panic in the streets?" Calvin asked as he walked towards the front door, "Let me know how that works for you. Are you going to arrest me?"

"What choice do I have?"

"Even during times where the people can't trust government," Calvin mused, "they still trust Superman. Seeing as how they are illegal, I did nothing wrong. In fact, that act thingy that protects a hero's identity would be in play. If you arrest me, you break another law. Hate to see you rot in jail more."

"Where, in fact, do your loyalties lie? That little stunt you pulled a few weeks ago where you trashed New Troy is…"

"Get off my property and don't come back until you get a warrant," Calvin interrupted in a low voice, after covering what distance was between the two in the blink of an eye, "I was cleared."

"Your basic plea was insanity," Bennett retorted as Cal walked back to the door, ushering Mike and Linda away from the man, "If you leave, you will be making a powerful enemy."

"With all due respect sir," Linda announced, breaking silence, "you'll be making a powerful enemy if you don't."

"Look up Cadmus, kiddies," the NSA agent ordered, "Repeating that part of history is not something you want to do." He walked back to his car and got inside. As it took off, Cal, Mike, and Linda all looked up at it, scowls on their faces.

* * *

I am not The Question, just a fan. Do you know what exactly his research detailed? Or what Company would be involved? There is no such thing as a stupid answer. Just a stupid question. The answer helps us to figure out what is the smart question.

"**?"**

P.S. 8

It took him a while to crack the code, but Mike finally got the reply. It had actually been him having fun with a digital cipher wheel he found. The code was not a turning the wheel back five lengths from the start, but from the previous cipher, thus making it a -2 from A. Or at least he thought after reading. When that part of the code didn't work, he turned the wheel so that a 2 from A, just in case and got it.

Of course he had to wonder what idiot would make a coding mistake like that and call himself or herself The Question? More importantly, this person was more than likely looking for an inside scoop to the case.

What do you really want? No tricks, No mistake codes. Here's my stupid question: Do you have anything that could help me find Dad? Or are you some guy behind your computer who is seeing connections that don't exist?

Mike hit the send button and then closed the laptop. He pushed his chair over to the window and looked outside at the sun setting. At the very least, he could figure out what this question person knew.

* * *

The wind blew through Calvin's hair as he hovered over the clouds, far above the towers of New Troy. He watched as the white fluff moved below him as he watched people drop flowers and other mementoes in front of the hotel. As various people walked past and reporters spoke of the events, Calvin turned around and flew south. His path took him close to the St. Martin's Island bridge before he heard his phone ringing. He flipped it open and saw Linda's name on the caller ID. He hit the send button and listened in.

"Where are you?" Linda's voice called out from the speaker.

"Just clearing my head," Calvin answered as he hung in mid-air, "you know, the whole assassin thing is getting to me."

"Cal, you can't be everywhere," Linda reassured, "you at least tried, that's all that…"

"It's not that," Calvin interrupted, "Bennett tried to talk me down at the party. He didn't want me to get involved, and he justified his actions using something that hit close to home."

"What did he say?"

"He said he was doing the same thing I was: protecting Truth, Justice, and the American Way," Calvin stated, "And it got me thinking you know. That's his idea of the American Way. Quietly killing the person who he has a problem with. And he's with the American government. That's not where I stand though."

"You're right," Linda thought, "Ever think that he was wrong about the American way?"

"I know he is. It's just that he thinks he and I were supposed to work on the same sides. Defending America in the same way. He thought I would side wholly with the government. That is what the American Way is all about. I don't want a part of it. Every time I wear this suit though…"

"You're not going back to Kilojoule, are you?" Linda jokingly asked.

"Not really," Calvin replied, "It's just that this suit stands for those things and it's not what I stand for."

"It isn't "Truth, Justice, or the American Way", Cal. Bennett is only concerned with America's interests. You're concerned with what it stands for: the former two of the three parts. I've always thought that the statement was actually redundant. Truth and Justice are the American Way. That was what the people who founded America believed in, and it is an ideal that most citizens still believe in. What you did is exposed a lie and injustice about America. Now, we just hope the public see it as such vote the people responsible out of office. It's all about hope, something that, I was told in a speech a while back, Superman offers in abundance."

* * *

"Morris," Luthor said as he stood up from his desk, "I caught your speech earlier today."

"Is that why you called me to your office, Lex?" Morris asked as he walked through the doors, "because I've been very busy since this afternoon."

"If I wanted to say something about your speech alone," Luthor smiled as he walked towards the mayor, "I would have sent a card. No, I wanted to ask you something about what you said in your speech. About how you were disgusted with the assassination plot. I particularly liked how you said the president was now going against everything this country stood for. I wanted to know how adamant you felt about that."

"Very much, Mr. Luthor," Mayor Carter declared, "I wouldn't have said it otherwise."

"I was just wondering if you would be willing to take your career all the way," Luthor asked, "As a fellow Metropolitan, I would be more than willing to support a campaign for your presidency."

"Let's take baby steps, Lex."

"Why?" The bald man asked, "You are the mayor of one of the largest cities in the world. You are the leader of a nearly a quarter of the voting public already. And you'd only be in your first term as mayor."

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"Nothing, just that politicians generally have little scandles in the second term."

"What have you heard?" Carter quickly asked.

Lex smiled as he leaned forward to look the man in the eyes, a grin forming in his bald face.

"Nothing in particular," He answered, "but everyone has a skeleton in their closet. Most a small skeletons, but, when you're in the public, they tend to be much larger. Just do me a favor," He ordered as he pulled out a bright, glowing sphere from his coat pocket. Morris's eyes went into a blank stare as the light swirled around the room, "just think about my offer."

"Okay," the mayor said as he turned and walked towards the door. Lex smiled as the man walked out. Behind the bald CEO, a metallic silver thing, almost like a bubble, rose from the ground. It began to take shape, and formed into a human like blob of liquid metal. As Lex turned, the blob gained more human of appearance, taking on the visage of Calvin Lark, sans glasses.

"That's not in our plan," the Calvin-copy declared.

"No, Brainiac, it isn't." Lex asserted, "I am allowed to do business that is not of your concern. I do like to have a larger voice in politics then the less fortunate."

"Let's not forget," the boy said as his eyes flashed bright red, "who holds the power in this room."

"Yes, let's not," Lex retorted, grabbing the bright light, "let's not forget who made you double go against his will and attack an entire city. Let's not forget who's cloned an army of Superman that will obey his every word. Let's not forget who brought you here. As far as power goes, I am the one in this room who has the most. You are here because I need the information coded into those nanites of yours. If it wasn't for the added muscle you provide, you would be back in the box I brought you here in."

"And let's not forget whose failed attempt to create a super-human threat brought Superman back into this world," the machine reminded, "and how that mistake has undone many of your deepest laid plans."

"Superman is not a problem in the long run."

"You assume too much."

Before Lex had the time to fire back, Brainac ran out of the room in a blur, moving down several flights of stairs before stopping. He looked over his shoulders down the hall and then looked straight in front of him.

"Do you think he suspects anything?" He asked to no one in particular. As he finished his questions, his face contorted into a silver liquid metal and reformed into a metallic looking head with three nodes on a hairless forehead. The rest of his body reformed into a green and purple machine. "Negative," He answered his own question in a more monotone voice, "Lex is blinded by his own human ambitions. He will not see his error until it is too late."


End file.
